Time To Shine
by Sky-Kaiser
Summary: A chance meeting between the desert bandit Yamcha and Krillin's ex-girlfriend alters the entire course of the Dragon Ball series as we know it! If you appreciate Yamcha as a character and want to see him - and the other non-Saiyans - become more powerful, this is the story for you. Rate and review! (Yamcha/Maron, and other pairings.)
1. Prologue: The Story So Far

**Hey, everyone. I'm Sky-Kaiser. And this is my first big fanfiction.**

**So, I need to ask... who's a fan of Yamcha, the desert bandit?**

**To be honest, I see a lot of people who have a very negative opinion of him, despite his actions during the original Dragon Ball series, when he was cool. When Dragon Ball was about warriors fighting to protect their planet from planet-overtaking militaries and demon kings. In Z, he was among the first to be unable to catch up, along with Chiaotzu and Yajirobe. And unfortunately, Yamcha suffered a very embarrassing death. I hate Saibamen so much for what they made Yamcha look like. And I kinda hate Saiyans just as much for rendering the humans obsolete.**

**So, I'm gonna throw Yamcha a bone and give him a fanfiction dedicated to him becoming great again. ****And not just him, but the other humans as well! Krillin, Tien, Chiaotzu and Yajirobe will have the privilege of becoming the usefulness! And I might even go farther than that!**

**But there might be some things different from canon. Like an alternate pairing, or maybe a crack pairing later on. And there may be the inclusion of some filler here and there. If you have a problem with that, you don't have to read.**

**Anyways, let us begin. Remember to like and comment!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV,**** Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**PARENTAL WARNING: This fanfiction will most likely contain depictions of sexual situations and lemons in the future. So don't read if you're not 18 or can't handle it.**

**Time To Shine**

**Prologue: The Story So Far...**

* * *

_Three years since things changed drastically for the heroes who protect Earth..._

_Three years ago, the heroes known as the Z Fighters discovered that their leader, Goku, was an alien. The man who told him this was his biological brother, Raditz, who said that Goku's real name was Kakarot, and that he was a member of a race of intergalactic warriors known as the Saiyans. Goku fought his brother along with the help of his arch-rival, Piccolo, to save Goku's son, Gohan, from Raditz. The conflict ended with Goku sacrificing himself so that Piccolo could fire the attack that would kill Raditz._

_A year later, Raditz's superiors arrived on the planet. A brute of a man named Nappa, and his commander: Vegeta, the Prince of the Saiyan Race. With Goku dead, Piccolo abducted Gohan, wishing to train him in martial arts and make him a fighter. The other Z Fighters decided to train fervently for the coming Saiyans. When Vegeta and Nappa arrived, they were quite eager to dispose of them. Though the Z Fighters were able to defeat the Saibamen the Saiyans sicked on them, Nappa proceeded to lay waste to the human warriors. Chiaotzu died first. Then Yamcha. Then Tien. Even Piccolo was slain, resulting in the death of his other half, Kami, who had created the Dragon Balls. Thankfully, before the Dragon Balls lost their power, the non-combatant friends of the Z Fighters brought Goku back from the dead. In Other World, Goku had trained in the art of Kaio-ken, allowing him to access great power. He managed to save Gohan and Krillin, brutally beating Nappa within an inch of his life. Vegeta disposed of Nappa and engaged him in mortal combat. Goku, with help from Gohan and Krillin, defeated the Saiyan Prince, under the warning that if he came back, Goku would kill Vegeta himself._

_With Earth's Dragon Balls gone, the Z Fighters had no way to revive Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Piccolo. However, Mr. Popo, the genie who served as Kami's assistant, pointed them to Planet Namek, where Piccolo's race, the Namekians, lived. They had a set of Dragon Balls they could use to bring people back from the dead. Krillin, Gohan and Bulma headed to Namek first while Goku recovered from the fight against Vegeta, only to discover the planet was occupied by Frieza, an intergalactic tyrant responsible for the genocide of the Saiyan race. Gohan and Krillin were forced to evade Frieza's top henchmen, while also trying to stay away from Vegeta, who had come to the planet looking for the Namekian Dragon Balls himself so he could become immortal - the same reason why Frieza was on Namek: to wish for immortality._

_Gohan and Krillin eventually decided to form a shaky alliance with Vegeta when Frieza called on the flamboyant mercenaries known as the Ginyu Force. Despite their team-up, they were hardly able to fend against them until Goku arrived. After defeating the Ginyu Force, Frieza took matters into his own hands and fought with the Z Fighters. The following fight with Frieza resulted in the deaths of Vegeta and Krillin, the latter of which triggered a legendary transformation in Goku to become a powerful warrior known as the "Super Saiyan." With this new power, Goku defeated and destroyed Frieza, avenging billions across the universe. But Goku was rendered missing after an attack from Frieza caused Namek to collapse. Goku escaped into space, but his whereabouts afterward were unknown._

_The present time is Age 764._

_This is where our story begins._

* * *

**Yeah... not much, yet. But this is the prologue. I promise you, great things are coming in this fic. I'd like to give credit to Childhood Enigma for helping me create this story. So thank you.**

**The first real update shall focus on Yamcha. So I hope to see you soon.**

**Sky-Kaiser out.**


	2. Chapter I: Somewhat Normal Life

**OK... so here I go with the first chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and if you wish to comment, please do. Just don't flame, OK?**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**Chapter 1:**** Somewhat Normal Life**

* * *

In a day and age where a mundane world mostly ignored the strange, powerful people who fought over it, there were still extraordinary sights.

After being dead for almost a year and being brought back to life, Yamcha was still a martial artist. But what made him seem to blend in with was now preparing for Baseball season with his team, The Taitans.

Yamcha, being the star player, was ultimately a team unto himself, and his coach knew this. Simply put, he was unstoppable. Though he didn't seem it, he was among the strongest people on the Planet Earth. Dwarfed by some of his friends, but still among the most powerful.

Yamcha himself was feeling quite confident in that he would be making a killing load of cash every year from now on, thanks to his prodigious fighting skills. Everything in his life seemed perfectly fine...

That is, until the topic regarding his long-time girlfriend, Bulma, came up.

The desert bandit and his rich girlfriend had been in an on-and-off relationship ever since they were both 16. However, most of their relationship that didn't involve happiness was Bulma accusing Yamcha of being unfaithful, due to past interactions with women. There were many times he could've called her out for flirting with other guys, including men from the past such as General Blue of the Red Ribbon Army, and Frieza's right hand, Zarbon. He _could_ have, but he hated to even think about stooping to that level. Recently, Bulma had been cracking down on Yamcha due to how many admirers he earned as a baseball player. A lot of them were women. And Yamcha had told Bulma multiple times that he couldn't help that a lot of his fans were girls. He was simply cursed from birth due to his extremely good looks. He was unable to control whether women paid attention to him or not. Of course, this didn't seem to register with the inherently stubborn Bulma.

In order to give Bulma some time to breathe while he found peace at mind, he came here to the dugout at the stadium to practice with his teammates. He was thankful for practice time, as it helped him relax and get his mind together while he trained for the upcoming season.

At an absent stadium in West City, Yamcha's team was watching in awe as their ace player faced against an automatic ball shooter. Firing 1 ball per second, Yamcha was casually batting away each ball with a perfect amount of force: just enough to send each one into the empty stands.

Soon, the machine had run out of balls to shoot. Predictably, the last ball flew right out of the stadium. The ex-desert bandit sighed and took his baseball cap off to wipe his brow. He turned to his team. His coach, a man with a blonde crewcut and narrow eyes, was giving him a congratulatory thumbs-up.

"You're certainly not rusty," chuckled Coach Hime. "I swear, you'll be taking names yet again when baseball season starts up."

"Thanks, Coach," said Yamcha, placing his cap back on his head and raising his bat.

A fellow player placed several more baseballs into the machine, and Yamcha went back to hitting home run after home run. He almost moved like a machine, repeating each single swing without falter.

Unbeknownst to his team, despite Yamcha looking entirely focused, his mind was double-tasking. One half focused on when to swing when a baseball was shot. The other was dwelling on his turmoil of a relationship with Bulma.

Yamcha had been together with Bulma for years, but really the only reason the two got together was because Bulma was looking for a boyfriend. She had originally intended to wish on the Dragon Balls for one, but eventually took a liking to the desert bandit. Yamcha was inherently scared of girls due to having been around none his entire life (his cat, Puar, didn't count), so he was quite timid during their first years of being together. But he eventually learned to grow more comfortable around her and they started a relationship.

Their decade-old relationship had its ups and downs, but it was nice. However, while most couples would have taken each other's virginities at this point, Yamcha and Bulma had never done the deed before. In fact, despite their age, they still had not gone that far. Reasons for this seemed to point towards the on-again-off-again tendencies of their bond. But Yamcha had been thinking up to this point that maybe he should finally take that next step. Perhaps then, Bulma's constant nagging about his whereabouts and who he'd been with and whatever.

He had done his best to prove he was loyal to her. He would do so again.

For now, though, Yamcha was finishing his batting spree. The last ball he hit soared clean out of the arena. The ball shooter was out of ammo, and the test was ended. Yamcha took a winded exhale and leaned on his bat.

"ATTABOY!" yelled Coach Hime, marching over to give Yamcha a pat on the back. "I tell ya, my boy, we're gonna be superstars once again because of you!"

"Just doing my best, Coach," said Yamcha modestly, taking off his baseball cap yet again so he could wipe his brow. It was nearly summer, so a great deal of sweat had accumulated there.

"You do damn good for your best, too," said the coach, eyeing his ace player up and down. "Either way, that should be enough practice for one day." He turned to the team. "Taitans! Let's call it a day! Get freshened up in the showers, and I'll see you next week for practice!"

The team voiced their relief and headed off to the shower. Yamcha was the last in, tossing his bat at the field cage while they headed for the locker room for a cold shower.

After having received that quick refresher, Yamcha had dried himself off and had changed from his Taitans uniform into a modest white long-sleeve with black jeans. Though his long, scruffy hair sort of took away, his appearance made him look quite cleaned up.

Parting ways with his team, Yamcha left the stadium, soon walking down a mostly clear sidewalk in West City. At the current, he was walking next to a small shopping district a few miles from Capsule Corp, where Bulma lived. He was caught up in thought, so much that he completely forgot to fly. On his spare time with his Taitan teammates, they had been giving him advice on his rather difficult relationship with Bulma. Just earlier today, before practice, he had been in a conversation with a fellow teammate: Targus.

_"I'm guessing things with you and Bulma must be going well. You haven't complained about her all day."_

_"Well, she did get a little suspicious yesterday when I said I was going to see my friends."_

_"I don't know, Yamcha. The way you talk about her sometimes, it's like she treats you as her own personal doormat."_

_"It's not that, Targus... OK, I know she's always been a little demanding, but I at least get where she's coming from. She's just a little... nosy."_

_"Man... sometimes when the time is right, you've gotta think about yourself. Just say screw it and move on. There are a lot of women out there who want all the control in the relationship, so men never get no freedom. If I were you, I'd stop kneeling to her every time she starts assuming."_

_"Kneeling? I'm not her slave, Targus."_

_"Then don't let her dictate everything you do. Just... think about what I said."_

Yamcha therefore wondered to himself. Was he really just Bulma's doormat? Had he truly been nothing more than her stool? He wanted his relationship with Bulma to work, but he wanted them to be equal in their relationship. But was such a thing possible?

Then he took Targus' advice into account. Should he simply give up on her? No, no... he loved Bulma too much for that. They had been in an active relationship for years, and even now they were still together after everything. Yamcha fancied that there was still something special and unbreakable about their relationship, despite their constant disagreements (which usually involved Bulma yelling at him). Though they had argued over the years, they still came back to each other. But it was true that Yamcha very much wished to work the rough edges out of their bond. But how?

Yamcha was so busy working out his thoughts that he didn't notice what was up ahead. A woman in a magenta dress with blue sneakers was jovially exiting a clothing store with a bag of newly-bought attire in hand, and she let out a rather content sigh as she took in the surrounding. Unfortunately, she didn't see a very distracted Yamcha until the last second. He collided with the woman's side, and both yelped and fell. The woman slumped on the still-open glass door, and Yamcha fell on his behind. The ex-bandit recovered first, getting up to help the woman to her feet.

"Oww..." complained the woman as she rose to her feet, rubbing her head where it impacted with the glass door. She pulled her shopping bag up with him.

"Oh, my... I'm sorry, ma'am," Yamcha apologized, profusely attempting to get on the woman's good side. "I was caught up in thinking, and I..."

The woman looked up to see him eye-to-eye, and Yamcha trailed off. For a second, he believed that he had ran into Bulma, but it was actually another girl with blue hair that he knew. Unlike Bulma's turquoise shade of hair, this girl had a pure sky-blue color for hers. He also noticed her slightly more curvaceous build, which was a margin more impressive than Bulma's features. Yamcha got an accidental glimpse at her cleavage, noticing her slightly bigger bust, but quickly back to the face of the girl. It was someone he hadn't expected to see in a long time.

"M... Maron?"

A blush crept upon his face as he recognized his friend Krillin's ex-girlfriend. He had forgotten just how ravishing she was.

"Do I know y...?" the woman began, interrupted by realization as she remembered she knew this man. "Hey, I remember you... Yamcha? Wow, it's been a whole year since I saw you!"

Yamcha felt quite light-headed upon seeing the only other blunette he knew. The last time he saw her was about a year ago, when she had been Krillin's girlfriend. And now she was inches from him, acknowledging how long it had been since they parted ways.

"You OK?" asked Maron. "You're blushing a whole lot."

Yamcha snapped out of his stupor and let go of Maron, stepping back to give her space.

"Heh heh!" laughed Yamcha. "Sorry, I just didn't expect to see you again. That, and I sort of... forgot how... attractive... you were."

Maron gave him a knowing look with a prideful smile. "Well, I _am_ quite fabulous, so I guess I can't blame you for looking..." she purred.

That elicited a rather bashful response from Yamcha, who went a deep shade of red.

"...but aren't you still dating that Bulma lady?"

That inquiry brought Yamcha back to Earth.

"Oh!" Yamcha shook his head. "Well, yeah, yeah. But... we're kinda going through a rough time. S... Sorting things out, I guess."

"Problems?" asked Maron.

"A lot," groaned Yamcha, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Like... nah, I shouldn't bore you with it. And you probably don't really care that much anyway..."

"Oh, I don't know..." the blunette replied thoughtfully. "Maybe I can lend an ear. Wanna walk with me?"

"Uh..."

Yamcha was unsure how to respond as the blunette began to walk ahead along the sidewalk. The bandit didn't know if even walking alongside to another woman was a very good idea. Say Bulma just happened to be out in town and saw them? She'd go insane.

Maron seemed to notice Yamcha's hesitance, because she turned around and giggled. "Hee hee... I'm not trying to stand between you and your girlfriend," she tittered. "Come on!"

Yamcha took a moment to look around, as if possibly expecting Bulma to just hop out of nowhere and threaten him with her finger. Then he resigned himself and caught up to the blunette.

"My house isn't far from here," explained Maron as Yamcha closed the walking distance between them. "I live near the beach because it's such a lively place. In fact, I actually met Krillin at West City Beach. It was also where we..." Her eyes began to drift to the sidewalk.

"...broke up," finished Yamcha.

"Yeah..." sighed Maron, looking less happy than before.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask," said Yamcha. "What happened? Why _didn't_ you two work out?"

"I... really don't know," confessed Maron, giving Yamcha a look that was a mixture of sadness and bewilderment. "I've had a bunch of boyfriends in the past, after all. But most of them were just simple flings or something like that. Krillin was the first guy I actually got serious with. And then he just... ended it. I don't know why."

"Krillin told us that it was because he felt like he wasn't enough for you," said Yamcha.

"That's what he told me," Maron replied. "But I wasn't smart enough to try and beg Krillin not to leave me or demand a good reason. I just rolled with it and left like I'd never cared. And then I let some guy pick me up in his car, and I totally _forgot_ about Krillin!"

_'Wow... that bad, huh?'_ thought Yamcha. He had remembered that when they first met her, Maron hadn't necessarily been the brightest person. But hearing her now, she seemed to feel extremely bad for being so dense.

"I was a total dumbass," said Maron mournfully. "I was too stupid to realize that Krillin was the best boyfriend I ever had..."

"That's rough..." admitted Yamcha, looking to the side.

"Don't I know it..." groaned Maron. "At least you have a girlfriend to keep you company. I'm still stuck in the single department..."

"Yeah... about that..."

"Hmm?"

"...I don't really know if me and her are actually doing that good right now."

"Oh..." Maron exclaimed quietly. "Right. Problems."

"Yeah, things have been a little rough," admitted Yamcha. "Remember the times Master Roshi told you about our friend, Goku? And the Dragon Balls?"

"Roshi was the old pervert, right?" giggled Maron. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well... I spent a year dead," explained Yamcha. "I don't think I ever told you about that... it's a long story, and you probably wouldn't believe..."

"Why not?" interrupted Maron. "Wasn't there some mist that made you and everyone else attack me and Krillin one day? Because that's a story I wouldn't have believed anyone telling me unless I'd seen it."

That was right... Garlic Junior, a villain they fought about the same time they met Maron, set out a strange "Black Water Mist" that caused Yamcha and his friends to become hostile, attacking anything they saw. Krillin and Maron had not been affected as they were in the ocean when the mist hit, and Maron had hilariously defended herself from Master Roshi with a chair.

"Yeah... right," said Yamcha slowly. "Well, are you sure you wanna hear it? It's a long story... and it involves aliens."

"Yeah, tell me!" said Maron cheerfully. "I mean, why shouldn't I believe you? Some of your friends are talking animals, and you own a cat who floats and talks. I doubt it can be that weird."

"Well, this is a whole different level of weird..." Yamcha replied. "...but you make a good point." He cleared his throat. "OK, strap in..."

And so, as they walked, Yamcha decided to reveal to Maron the only tale she hadn't heard: the arrival of the Saiyans, his death, and the conquest on Namek. He told her about the unsettling reveal that their friend, Goku, was an alien. The person who revealed this to Goku, his brother Raditz, having come there to destroy the planet. The death of said brother. Then a year after Raditz was slain, the arrival of Vegeta and Nappa, which Maron actually recognized due to the Saiyans having been televised reducing a city to a glass floor. His death, as well as the deaths of Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Piccolo. His time in Other World while Gohan, Krillin, Bulma, and later Goku had travelled to a distant planet called Namek to use the Dragon Balls _there_ to bring them back from the dead. The alien tyrant named Frieza who had destroyed the Saiyan race. And of course, the aftermath in which everyone who had been killed in the past year was brought back from the dead.

Maron was left contemplative,.

"So basically, you're not just really different..." she began.

"...but we also protect the planet," Yamcha finished for her. "I told you it would be weird..."

"Yeah... hee hee!" Maron giggled, an adorable little sound that could make any man's heart flutter. "Yeah, I think that's enough a dose of crazy for me today... not that it doesn't sound very exciting. Also... sorry about your death."

"No need to apologize," chuckled Yamcha. "If anything, death is cheap with us."

"Yeah, Dragon Balls..." Maron reminded herself. "But you sound like you lead an exciting life. It sounds scary, but exciting. But enough about that... what about you and that o..."

She stopped herself from saying "old lady."

A year back, when she first interacted with Goku's wife, Chi-Chi, as well as Bulma, they berated her for strutting around in a very skimpy, yellow one-piece every time she was on the beach. She would laugh at them and say they were jealous, calling them old to their faces. Hence, Chi-Chi and Bulma had always hated her.

"...you and Bulma," she corrected herself. "What's going on with you?"

"Well, things could be better..." admitted Yamcha, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, I heard she was heartbroken when I died and happy when I was brought back, but since then, she's been really paranoid about everything. It's like she has to keep tabs on me no matter where I go. She literally wants to know all about where I've been and who I've been with when there's never been a who. It's like she'll interpret anything as cheating if she sees me with someone else. And she never changes her mind. She's always acting like she's in the right. I feel like she wants to put an antennae in my head and control me with a remote. I just..." He sighed in exasperation. "I mean, I love Bulma a lot, but nowadays, I feel like I have no freedom of expression when I'm around her."

"Then why do you stay with her?" asked Maron, giving Yamcha a look of disapproval. "She's always seemed grumpy to me. Why keep around her? How long have you known each other?"

"Since we were 16," answered Yamcha.

Maron stopped in her tracks, prompting Yamcha to stop as well. The blunette looked at him in surprise.

_"16?"_ repeated Maron. "You mean you haven't even tried to _tie the knot_ by that point?"

"I know, it's a long time," admitted Yamcha as they started to walk again. "It was years ago that I met her, too. Y'see, I used to live in the Diablo Desert as a bandit. No one but my cat, Puar, keeping me company. All I ever did was scare people off and demand money. When I first met Goku, he was just a kid, and I stomped him from one end of the desert to the other. When I fought him again, Bulma was with him. I used to be really afraid of girls, so when I saw her, I froze up. And then I got wasted."

"You were afraid of girls?" asked Maron. "I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?"

"No, you're fine, Maron," said Yamcha. "OK, maybe I'm still a little, er... timid... but I'm not stark scared anymore. See, I literally grew up in the desert. I never even knew my parents, so I knew nothing about women. And Puar was the only friend I had until I met the others. Pretty much, I was never told about girls growing up, so you can see why I'd be a little nervous around the opposite gender. And then there's the mention of..." Yamcha's blush was back. "...doing _it._"

Maron nearly blushed herself. That _would_ be an awkward subject.

"And it doesn't make it better that me and Bulma haven't even veered into that territory," continued Yamcha, feeling rather embarrassed. "We're still practically innocent. I guess that must sound really silly. Me, a full-grown man with a girlfriend, and I still haven't had the balls to go that far."

"I've never done it either," Maron answered back, not skipping a beat.

This time, Yamcha stopped walking. His face went redder than ever.

"You're not the only one," Maron admitted, shrugging. "I've been told a lot of times that I'm a beautiful woman, and boy, do I know. And you're a very handsome guy, Yamcha. I mean I'd never stand between you and your girlfriend," she added hastily, giggling at Yamcha's expression. "But... I guess I've been busy with other things..."

"You mean you never..." Yamcha was surprised that Maron would reveal such information about herself. That she was still a virgin not only made him feel a little better about himself, but confounded him that someone so breathtaking had never relinquished her innocence to anyone was a surprise, too.

"No," Maron said, brushing her hair and locking her fingers together as she resumed her pace on the sidewalk. Yamcha followed.

"I guess I've been a bit more busy with other things in life," explained the blunette. "It's not that I don't wanna see what it's like, but I'd rather wait until I find someone who respects me. Someone who doesn't see me as a walking sex toy. Like Krillin. But..." Her gaze drooped.

"But...?" Yamcha urged, gently as to not press her too hard on the subject.

"...but I haven't met a single guy like Krillin since we broke up," finished Maron. "It seems like every single guy with good looks is only thinking about sex, and they don't feel like waiting. I hate people like that. And just my luck, I went through three boyfriends just like that: men only looking for a tumble. I'm taking a break from dating because of it. It just makes me wonder why the 'single woman seeks good man' thing is so hard..."

"Yeah, I think every man feels that way at least once..." admitted Yamcha. "I mean, I'd never force Bulma to do anything she wouldn't want unless she said 'yes,' but sometimes I have one thing on my mind, too. I want to do it with her and not be a virgin anymore, but I don't wanna come across as just wanting sex. I want it to mean something."

"I dunno," said Maron. "Not every girl is like me."

"Whatcha mean?"

"Maybe she seems the person who _needs_ someone to make her a woman," Maron explained. "If you wanna get someone like her to stop bearing down on you, then be bold. Maybe try it the next time you're alone? I had a friend once who did the same thing with his girlfriend, and he got along fabulously with her."

Be bold? Did that mean actively seek sex? While Yamcha was not one to be particularly brave around women, this suggestion _did_ show promise. And Bulma was quite hard to get through to. In fact, he had been planning to get it on _one day_ with Bulma, so why not soon? And using the same method Maron proposed should benefit him. If it worked with someone else, he didn't see why it shouldn't do good for him.

"That's... a good idea," Yamcha said at last. "I _do_ need to act a little more like a man in front of Bulma anyway. Thanks, Maron."

"Don't mention it, Yamcha," Maron answered, smiling. Then she pointed ahead. "Oh, hey! We're at my house!"

The time they had said this, the sidewalk was now running along the side of a fence which barred anyone walking along the sidewalk from going past that line, as it was on the edge of a deeply sloped hill which drooped into the valley, where a bunch of beach houses lined the coast of the ocean beyond. They were about a few miles away from the beach. Up ahead, on a slight protrusion of a hill overlooking the beach houses below, was a simple two-story home that had seemed to be designed for the beach. A wide porch adorned the front, complete with a small table and a few chairs on the left side, and a hammock on the right side. On the back side of the home, on the second story, was a fairly-sized balcony that gave whoever was on said vantage point a perfect view of the ocean a few miles away. Yamcha and Maron walked up a narrow wooden pathway to the top of the hill in order to reach the house.

"This is where you live?" asked Yamcha as they finally reached the house, stepping up the porch. Yamcha walked over to the left side of the porch to lean against the railing, looking past the side of the house to take in the scenery. "This... it's beautiful."

"I always wanted to live near the beach, you see," explained Maron. "I saved a good deal of money to get it, and being near my favorite place on the planet always makes me feel good. It's not the biggest house in the world, and it's no mansion... but it's home."

Maron searched for her keys in her purse as Yamcha returned from the side of the porch. The blunette soon found her key and inserted it into the lock, twisting it to unlock it.

"Thanks for walking me home, Yamcha," said Maron, putting the key back in her purse. Instead of opening the door, she turned back to Yamcha. "It was nice seeing an old friend."

"You too," replied Yamcha. "I rarely get to see friends from the old days. I'm just happy you're doing well for yourself."

"And I hope you and your girlfriend start getting along better," replied Maron. She gave a wink. Just remember what I said.

"I will." Yamcha winked back. "Hey, uh... see you again sometime?"

"Of course!" said Maron. "Just don't tell your girl, or she might get jealous."

Yamcha made to reply when Maron gave him a tender hug, showing how genuinely happy she was to see a friend again. Naturally, Yamcha's face went redder than a tomato.

After saying their "see-you-later's," Maron returned to the inside of her house, while Yamcha backtracked a little off the porch before taking flight. His mind now clear, he was ready to fly back home. He expected Bulma might have something to say about being late, but he was ready. Ready to take his relationship to the next level with the woman he had devoted himself to for years.

He didn't notice, but Maron saw him fly away. A smile brought on from reminiscing the past curled her lips as she watched the desert bandit soar away.

"Hmm..." she hummed. "I always knew there was something different about those guys..."

With that, Maron left the window and prepared to take a break for the day.

* * *

**First chapter at last. Whew.**

**So, yeah. Me and Childhood Enigma decided the story should begin with Yamcha having a run-in with some girl he knows from the past. And she's not the only one... there will be other characters who will appear in the future who are from the past. And maybe more...**

**Until then, thanks to Childhood Enigma for his help. I will see you all next update!**

**Sky-Kaiser out.**


	3. Chapter II: The Prince Returns

**And I'm back. Now we have Bulma enter the picture, and we begin to delve into the plot properly. Please review, but no flaming!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama**.

**Chapter 2: The Prince Returns**

* * *

Not far off of West City was the Capsule Corp business complex, consisting of numerous dome-shaped buildings. One of the buildings had a certain balcony where a floating blue-furred cat was talking to a distressed woman with turquoise hair.

Puar the cat was trying to explain to the heiress of Capsule Corp, Bulma, that she had no clue on Yamcha's whereabouts... not that her arguments did much good.

"Ms. Bulma, you can't expect Lord Yamcha to come back at _exactly_ 4:00 PM," Puar was saying. "His friends might have wanted him to hang out! Or maybe, he wanted to walk home and take his time..."

"He can explain that when he gets there," snorted Bulma, pacing back and forth. Her irritation was quite apparent. "35 minutes past 4... a year gone by, and he _still_ hasn't learned when to get his stupid ass home. He's off somewhere with some slut beneath my nose, I just know it!"

Puar stayed a bit back when she heard that. Nowadays, when Bulma spoke of Yamcha, she always spoke of him in negative terms. It was kind of unnerving, given how they had been together for years. But since Yamcha was brought back after his death, their relationship had been very strained. And Puar saw their bond as a very worn-out rope. It would snap eventually...

"Him and his stupid baseball practice..." Bulma was grumbling. "Always showing off for some stupid girls because of his stupid ego trip, and..." She stomped her foot. "UGH! Just freaking stupid! I oughta call him and give him a piece of my mind...!"

Puar looked on dismayed as Bulma reached into her pocket to get her phone. The cat turned around, hoping to see her Lord Yamcha coming, and thankfully she saw him in the distance.

"Look!" she cried out.

Bulma had gotten her phone out of her pocket by this point. Upon seeing Yamcha flying towards them, she slowly pocketed the device. But there was still a big scowl on her face.

_'What kind of excuse might you have this time...?'_ Bulma was grumbling.

Yamcha descended onto the balcony, wiping some sweat from his brow as he came to greet his cat.

"Hey, Puar!"

"Lord Yamcha," said Puar, smiling, grateful to see he was back. Maybe now, Bulma would calm down. "How was practice?"

"Great," said Yamcha. "Honestly, I can't wait for baseball season. I'm pretty sure me and the Taitans will kill it out there."

"Yeah, I'm sure you will, hotshot. Now _where were you?_"

Here came Bulma, hands on her hips, and her blue eyes angry and disapproving. Yamcha instantly remembered that he was supposed to come back at 4:00, since Bulma had such a problem with him being gone for too long. He sometimes felt like a kid being scolded for being late to school.

"Hey, Bulma," sighed Yamcha with slight annoyance, turning to his girlfriend. "Sorry I'm late."

"'Sorry' doesn't explain anything, Yamcha," snorted Bulma. "You know the rule, be back at 4:00 o'clock on the dot. You're 35 minutes late."

"I know, I know, but my phone went dead," Yamcha explained, which was the truth. He had forgotten to charge it today. "Anyways, the Coach took us out for drinks, but I left early so I could get back. I kinda lost track of the time without my phone."

The second part was an alibi. He couldn't tell his ex that he had been speaking with another girl, or Bulma would kill him. Despite the fact that Yamcha never did - or for that fact, would never - play hooky on her for another woman, Bulma would most likely hit the ceiling in anger if she knew. Even _if_ it had been a chance meeting, and he was only saying "hello" to the girl he spoke to.

"I swear, nothing out of the ordinary," he said earnestly.

Bulma took in his insistent facial expression, eyeing him as if to detect a lie. Thankfully, he passed the test.

"...alright, I believe you," she conceded, but quickly put her finger to his chest. "But _don't_ do it again. Tomorrow, you come back at 4:00, and on time. You better not come home late again."

"Alright..." grumbled Yamcha. "Alright... I get you..."

As Bulma walked back inside, Yamcha slapped his palm to his face out of annoyance. Usually he was patient with Bulma, but these recent days, he had been getting understandably peeved by Bulma's dominant nature.

_'I swear,'_ grumbled Yamcha. _'Bulma's been more controlling since I came back. It's like she's a dictator on a power trip. No freedom whatsoever. It's bullcrap.'_

Whilst he ranted in his mind about the defects of the relationship he had with Bulma, he suddenly began to remember the words of Maron from earlier today, when they walked down the sidewalk...

_"If you wanna get someone like her to stop bearing down on you, then be bold."_

He tapped the side of his head with his finger when he remembered. Walking inside to the living room of the building, he saw Bulma sitting down to watch television, her mask of anger still plastered on her face.

"Hey, Bulma."

"What now, Yamcha-?"

Yamcha suddenly grabbed Bulma's hand, tugging slightly as if to encourage Bulma to go with him. Bulma's anger transformed into confusion.

"Yamcha?"

Yamcha gave no response as he pulled her off the couch and off towards a more secluded place, preferably with a bed. As Bulma was tugged along, she wondered to herself what could be triggering such behavior. Usually, Yamcha would explain himself on doing something. But why was he...? Where was he taking her?

"Yamcha! Hey! Slow down! Where are we going?!" Bulma asked frantically, nearly falling over a few times from how quickly Yamcha was tugging her. She nearly tripped several times over.

Soon, they reached the destination: Bulma's room. Once inside, Yamcha let go of Bulma's hand and went to lock the door.

"Hang on, Yamcha," Bulma was saying. "What's all this? What are you doing?"

Yamcha answered as such when he finished locking the door: he walked up to Bulma and smothered her in a heated kiss. Bulma was taken off guard by Yamcha's forward attitude, but nevertheless returned the embrace. When Yamcha pulled away, he replied to her inquiry.

"I'm making my move, Bulma," said Yamcha quietly, his voice lowered to a deep, husky tone that made Bulma shiver. "Something I should've done a long time ago..."

Yamcha kissed her again, and this time Bulma was ready for it, taking in the embrace and snaking her arms around her boyfriend's waist. In an instant, they forgot to be mad at one another, sinking into a mutual embrace as they backed towards the bed.

Though Bulma did her best to take control, Yamcha was showing a ferocious dominance that was completely new to her. She ultimately laid back and let Yamcha pin her to the bed. She was finally about to go the next step with her boyfriend...

Yamcha reached for the bottom of her dress and pulled it up, intent on revealing her treasured body. Once lifted over her head, Bulma discarded it by throwing it to the side. They then returned to heated kisses, ravaging each other's mouths with their tongues, intent on making this a very worthwhile experience.

Another pause in their lustful tongue war led to Bulma reaching for his pants, which caused them to part their liplock just so Bulma could see what was underneath. She was quite surprised when she saw Yamcha was very well-endowed. In return, she began to reach for her bra, wanting to return the favor by revealing something enticing to him...

**_BOOM!_**

...when an explosion shook the entire Capsule Corp complex!

Bulma accidentally succeeded in removing her bra to show off her breasts, but by this point both were now more shocked than aroused.

"HOLY CRAP!" cried out Yamcha, turning around and nearly tumbling off the bed.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" gasped Bulma, grabbing her bra.

Looking at each other, mortified and having lost much interest in finishing what they were meant to do, they began to reach for their clothes.

"F-Finish this later?" asked Bulma timidly.

"Yeah," mumbled Yamcha in reply, feeling kind of embarrassed that what was supposed to be their first time had been interrupted.

Once having clad themselves once again, Yamcha and Bulma ran outside to find out what exactly the problem was. On the way outside, they were joined by Puar, as well as Bulma's parents, Doctor Briefs and his wife, Panchy.

"Bulma darling!" cried out Doctor Briefs, quickly grabbing his daughter's shoulders. "You alright?!"

"I'm fine," confirmed Bulma, "but what happened?!"

"We don't know," admitted Puar. "All we heard was a huge explosion..."

"We were gonna see ourselves," admitted Yamcha. "Come on, I think it came from back here..." He gestured, and the Briefs family plus Puar followed.

The group scrambled outside to find out the source of the startling explosion behind most of the complex. It was a miracle that none of the buildings had been touched. Having reached the spot of interest, they saw a smoking crater with what appeared to be a spherical space pod with the profile of those used by the Planet Trade Organization. Yamcha, the Briefs family, and Puar were surprised.

"A space pod?" murmered Bulma. "But who from space could be coming here?"

Though everyone else was clueless, Yamcha was able to sense the _ki_ of the one inside the pod. And it was a certain signature that made him twitch in slight worry and irritation.

"I know that _ki_..."

The smoke was dying down by this point, and the pod's single door was still closed. This changed quickly with the door automatically swinging open, and its occupant stepped out and onto the charred ground beneath him. The figure stepped out of the crater the pod had created, and stepped out.

The man had a look that was easy to remember, with somewhat long black hair that stuck upwards in a somewhat flame-like adornment. His face was permanently contorted into a scowl, with stern features and cold eyes as black as his hair. He was actually somewhat short in stature, about the same height as Bulma (if not an inch taller), and clad in a worn-out uniform of Saiyan armor, which consisted of a blue, tattered body glove, a white chestplate with scratches and tears in the resilient fabric, and stained gloves and boots.

The man was unmistakable to the people in front of him, as all of them had at least caught a glimpse of him two years ago, when they last saw him. Doctor Briefs and Panchy had little expression, while Bulma looked surprised. Puar had a fearful expression, while Yamcha simply stared daggers at him.

"Vegeta?" Bulma was the first to speak up. "Is that you?"

The way she spoke implied that she was a little pleased to see him, which worried Yamcha a bit. Vegeta was one of several men whom Bulma had set lustful eyes upon, and Yamcha felt his insecurities manifest into a worried expression coupled with a small amount of sweat.

Vegeta huffed. "At least someone on this planet isn't too simple-minded to forget my name," he snorted, walking to the group in front of him. "Not as if I care in the slightest..." He dusted off his Saiyan armor. "Has your Super Saiyan hero returned yet?"

"No," Yamcha informed him, with his tone having a hint of harsh feeling towards the Prince. "We haven't seen him two whole years, same as you."

"Wonderful," grunted Vegeta, crossing his arms in annoyance. He had sort of hoped that his arch-nemesis would have returned to his home planet after his disappearance. But again, no luck.

"I just hope you're not back to destroy the planet again," added Yamcha rather viciously.

"Believe me, I'd love to..." said Vegeta smugly, before returning to his usual cold deadpan. "...but this planet is too beneath me to be worthy of my wrath. I came here looking for Kakarot, so I may as well wait here. As you can tell, I haven't had any luck looking for the idiot either."

"And that helps us a great deal... NOT!" snapped Bulma rudely. "Two whole years in space, and you can't find one man?"

"_Ki_ sense only goes so far, woman!" Vegeta shot back. "You can't simply sense the entire galaxy, that's not how it works! Oh, why am I wasting time with an idiot who doesn't know the first thing about how energy works?"

"Hey!" Yamcha stepped up. "Don't talk to Bulma like that!"

"As if you have any power to stop me!" Vegeta said dangerously. "And neither of you should have the nerve to speak to me like th-"

And that was when Panchy casually walked up to Vegeta and took his arm like he were a welcomed guest. Vegeta became stiff from the touch, having not expected the older woman's advance, nor did he predict her rather pleasant words.

"Why don't you come in?" she chirped, seeming cheery as always. "Make yourself at home. I'm sure you're tired after traveling around in space for so long! Besides that, I'm so glad Bulma has more male friends coming around!"

Panchy was just the sort of person who was hardly bothered by anyone or anything, the kind of person who enjoyed showing care and affection, and hardly ever being disturbed by anything. Vegeta himself was taken aback by how cheery she seemed, but shrugged it off. At least she was the first person to actually be respectful to him upon his landing.

Panchy quickly tugged Vegeta along, with her husband coming up to walk alongside them. Yamcha, Bulma and Puar looked on quite surprised as they welcomed him to their abode.

"What just happened?" asked Puar.

"I'm just as lost as you," said a disturbed Bulma. "Shouldn't my parents know all the dangers of welcoming a mass murderer from space into our home?!"

Yamcha, however, was focused on something Panchy had said.

"WHAT DID SHE MEAN, 'MALE FRIENDS?!'" he shouted incredulously.

Bulma and Puar just looked at him and shrugged.

"By now, I have no idea," murmered Puar.

"Who cares?" grumbled Bulma. "We pretty much have a new job until Goku gets back: 'don't make Vegeta mad so that he doesn't blow up the planet.' Good luck on that," she added sarcastically as she followed her parents.

As Yamcha and Puar decided to follow, the desert bandit felt that his mind was all aflame from everything that had just happened in the past 10 minutes. Not only was he a little worried on how all his friends would react to Vegeta having returned to Planet Earth, but he was also a great deal frustrated due to the fact that, though unintentional, the Saiyan Prince had prevented him from doing the deed with Bulma.

He had been cock-blocked by Vegeta.

_'Pfft...'_ grumbled Yamcha in his mind. _'So much for being bold.'_

Irritated and blue-balled, the desert bandit followed his girlfriend inside, with Puar floating behind him. The hopeful feeling he had felt rise within him earlier from attempting to bed Bulma had been mercilessly stepped on, and it was all thanks to a returning foe.

* * *

Over the course of an hour, Vegeta began to settle in, with Panchy catering to his every whim. Bulma's mom was known for making people feel welcome, after all. Of course, it was possible that Vegeta didn't feel welcome at all, simply satisfied with how she was treating him. Yamcha and Puar, however, were welcome, as thanks to Panchy, they didn't have to directly deal with Vegeta themselves.

At one point, Vegeta finally went to the shower, having been politely told by Panchy that he needed to rid himself of his smell. Had Bulma tried and told him that, she'd have gone out of her way to be rude about how much he reeked. Though, as she watched Vegeta make for the shower, she felt as if she had to admit something.

"I wonder what his big deal is," she pondered aloud to Yamcha as they sat together at a table on a balcony. "He seems like he's had a really rough time... I mean, think about his life. Frieza had him and the last of the Saiyans as slaves, and his life has been borderline torture. No wonder he's grumpy..."

"You don't really think you can help redeem him," snorted Yamcha. "He's the reason I died."

"And we all know he only cares about killing Goku and being immortal..." added Puar grimly.

"Oh, trust me," said Bulma with look of pure disgust. "I'm not even gonna _try_ and make him see the errors of his ways. He's a total bastard."

"Agreed," said Yamcha grimly.

"Yeah, we don't need him here," chimed in Puar. "I wish Goku were here so he could get rid of him."

"Oh, come now, he can't be that bad," said a cheery Panchy, walking up to the three. "You have to tell me more about this Vegeta person."

"Ugh..." snorted Bulma. "Mom, don't you remember that city that got glassed two years back? Vegeta's big friend did that. Then Vegeta himself, he tried to blow Earth up. He's a total..." She made to say something vulgar in reference to Vegeta, but refrained at the last second. "...yeah," she finished simply, before continuing. "We actually met face-to-face on Namek, and he took that alien Dragon Ball I had, saying he'd do horrible things to me if I didn't hand it over. Complete jerk, through and through."

"Maybe all he needs is a little companionship," said Panchy calmly, not missing a beat. She was optimistic to the point that sometimes she refused to see evil in anyone. "Besides, he seems rather nice when he's all calmed down..."

"Mrs. Briefs," interjected Yamcha. "Not to sound rude, but that guy in there, along with his big friend - who is dead, by the way - they were the reason me and my other friends were dead for a while."

"And he wants to kill Goku," added Puar. "Or at least... he wanted to. Of course, he can't now, since Goku's the Super Saiyan of legend... but he's still not a nice person."

"Understatement," Bulma said viciously. "He's killed countless people on his mad quest to become immortal..."

_"Not to mentioned he **so** cock-blocked me,"_ sulked Yamcha in a whisper, which was unintentionally overheard by Bulma.

"You say something, Yamcha?" Bulma inquired.

"Nothing," replied Yamcha quickly, looking away as if oblivious.

Bulma supposed that it was nothing of importance and returned gaze to her mother.

"OK, sure, he helped us a little bit on Namek," said Bulma, "but that was it. He still cares about no one other than himself."

"Oh dear," replied Panchy insistently. "Give him time, I'm sure he'll be more than willing to be more open."

Yamcha and Puar snickered at that outlandish possibility. To them, Hell would freeze over long before Vegeta chose to become a good person. Bulma seemed to agree, shaking her head and frowning.

Just at that moment, Vegeta exited the shower, quite irate. He was completely naked, revealing his ridiculously toned body. He had no towel. The only thing that was shielding his unmentionables was a pink shirt he was holding in front of him. It had embroidered on the back the words, "BAD MAN."

"Oh, Vegeta!" said Panchy cheerfully, not registering with the fact that he was stark naked in front of her. "You've finished!"

Her mother didn't notice, but Bulma suddenly found herself blushing immensely at the sight of the Saiyan Prince without apparel. He was almost unrealistically chiseled in every single way, and this sight made her eyes lock on. But then she realized what was going on, and she quickly shook her head.

_'The Hell are you staring_ at?!' Bulma berated herself in her mind. _'You have no business looking at him! You're with Yamcha!' _She reinforced this thought by shouting out-loud at Vegeta, "Why don't you put some damn clothes on?!"

Yamcha seemed to catch on, looking quite uneasy as he had seen Bulma staring. Here she went again with that 'bad boy' attraction that she used to have for him long ago...

"As if I should wear this!" snapped back Vegeta. "Whose idea was it to give me a _pink_ shirt?!"

"Oh, that's my husband's, actually," explained Panchy. "He doesn't wear it anymore, and it was the only size that could fit you..."

"Are you telling me that men are accustomed to wearing feminine colors?!" blurted out Vegeta incredulously, which prompted Yamcha, Bulma and Puar to burst out in quiet hysterics at his expense. "What kind of strange culture...?"

"Real men are known for wearing pink," Panchy explained. "It means they have a great deal of confidence. You'll get used to it eventually."

"Men in pink..." mumbled Vegeta, observing the shirt with apprehension. "How bizarre..."

"Oh, believe me," tittered Panchy. "You'll attract a lot of attention with a shirt like that. Don't you want the ladies to notice?"

"Not really," answered Vegeta flatly.

Panchy gently ushered him back into the bathroom to help him get dressed and try to assuage any type of concern that Vegeta might have about wearing a less masculine color. Bulma, meanwhile, had been doing her best to look away.

_'Control yourself, Bulma,'_ she thought to herself sternly. _'Remember what he did. He got Yamcha killed. Besides, it's not like he'll stay long. Goku will either drive him off or kill him. Either way, you won't have to deal with him.'_

Yamcha watched her in her thought process, concern and suspicion tracing his features. Though he felt a little pessimistic, he was nevertheless hoping against hope that she wasn't into his killer. Sure, it sounded a crazy thought, but it wouldn't be the first time she started staring at a man with bedroom eyes.

_'Dammit,'_ Yamcha cursed in his mind. _'This happens every time someone like Vegeta enters the picture. Bulma starts staring. Man, and I was just trying to fix my relationship with Bulma!'_

He got up from the table rather abruptly, which prompted Bulma to ask, "Where are you off to?"

"I'm gonna go chill," explained Yamcha dismissively. "Come on, Puar..."

Puar did not question, following Yamcha as they left to go inside. Bulma had a look on her face that seemed to wonder what was up with Yamcha as he left, as if trying to discern what had suddenly made him so surly...

* * *

Later on that day, Yamcha found himself fishing through the refrigerator for some milk. His mind was still clouded with great annoyance and resentment.

This wasn't new to him, after all. Bulma had always had some kind of affinity for "bad boys." And sadly, it had been years since he could be called that. When he had first met Goku and Bulma, he was cold and deceptive, having his way with any unfortunates who dared to wonder into the Diablo Desert. His only really humorous trait was that he was scared of girls, having no knowledge on how to interact with the opposite gender as he had grown up in the desert by himself. The only female he knew was Puar, but she didn't count as she was a cat. It was the legit human women that he felt himself grow extremely timid around. When he became a friend to Goku and boyfriend to Bulma, he became less afraid, but still a great deal bashful around the opposite gender. But even this insecurity was one of several things that had kept their dysfunctional relationship to going any further than dates.

And that wasn't even the worst part. Because of Bulma's love for darker individuals, it seemed that every time she looked at a man, it was an upgrade from Yamcha. She had swooned at the name "Jackie Chun," who had turned out to be Master Roshi, the Turtle Master, in disguise. Then, during the battle with the Red Ribbon Army, she attempted to seduced the masculine General Blue. This only failed because the Red Ribbon officer was disgusted by women in general and was homosexual. And when Yamcha was dead alongside Tien, Chiaotzu and Piccolo, he had heard about how Bulma had suddenly become flustered in the presence of Zarbon, one of the top henchmen of the tyrannical Lord Frieza. That attraction ended with Zarbon revealed his hideous transformed state, only to be killed by Vegeta. And lo and behold, she had formed an attraction for aforementioned Saiyan Prince as well.

What made Yamcha sick was that for every time that Bulma went and dangled on the cheating edge, she always yelled at him for doing the exact same thing she did. But Yamcha was as loyal to her as a soldier would be to his country. He loved Bulma dearly, and would never do anything to make her think he would betray her. But really, he felt like he had to restrain a lot of anger whenever Bulma reprimanded him for cheating when she danced on that narrow line all day long. There was one time when he was confronted by a Red Ribbon spy who had attempted to steal a Dragon Ball from him by posing as a fortuneteller. It had ended with a box to the face from Bulma, who caught them together and thought he was kissing the spy, when in fact he was petrified with fear.

OK, so maybe their relationship hadn't been the best. But they worked things out a great deal in the past, and were still together.

And yet...

"Are you trying to accomplish something by sticking your head into a refrigerator?"

_'Great.'_

Yamcha found the milk at last and quickly extricated himself from the fridge to look at Vegeta, leaning against the wall and giving him a smug grin that was guaranteed to infuriate him.

"Any particular reason you showed up?" asked Yamcha coldly. "Or are you just here to be sour?"

Vegeta scoffed. "As if I would have any other reason for being on this boring ball of dirt other that waiting for Kakarot... but I _can_ say I remember you."

Yamcha didn't roll his eyes in real life, but he did so mentally.

"You were the man who took on each one of our Saibamen and destroyed them," said Vegeta, with a hint of admiration. "That was an impressive feat... for a _human_."

"And yet I feel as if you don't think that much of me," said Yamcha in response. Given this was Vegeta, he would most likely follow the compliment up with an insult or a detriment.

"Of course not," snorted Vegeta with a hint of laughter. "Just because you're strong for a human didn't mean it was enough to show anything new to a Saiyan. Given how easily you fell to Nappa..."

"Hey, I lasted longer than Chiaotzu!" said Yamcha defensively, before face-palming himself in front of his adversary. _'Nice going, Yamcha... nice comeback...'_

This brought him back to that absolutely infuriating day the Saiyans landed on Planet Earth. During that fight, he and the other humans were fighting a losing battle against Nappa, who was Vegeta's right-hand man. At one point, Nappa threw a deadly blast at Krillin, but Yamcha, not having enough time to deflect the blast with one of his own, jumped in front of Krillin. He took the bullet, and the blast put his body in a smoking crater. He felt lucky that he survived up to then, but he was still slain in the fight. It could've been worse, though. Before they fought Nappa, the last Saibaman he fought lunged at him and tried to grab him. Yamcha evaded, and watched the creature explode not seconds after. He had been lucky, as being killed by such a weak creature would've been much more embarrassing than what Nappa did to him.

"Sure..." Vegeta sneered at Yamcha's rather empty comeback. "Maybe you _did _live longer than _one_ of your friends. But you can't change what is fact. Regardless of whether you fight or not, I'll always be the Alpha and Omega. And you... the only good way to describe you is 'Beta Male.'"

Yamcha felt as if a droplet of water could come in contact with his skin and it would dissipate into vapor. That was how absolutely pissed he was at the moment. He wanted to lunge forward and punch that look right off Vegeta's smug, insufferable face, but he knew how strong Vegeta was. His strength was far eclipsed by that of the Prince of Saiyans, and safe to say, he was somewhat intimidated by him.

But that didn't stop a great well of defiance from springing up within him.

"So?" Yamcha inquired rhetorically. "What _if_ I'm not the best there is? Because as far as I know, you'll always be a Beta Male yourself... to Goku."

Vegeta dangerously froze up. Yamcha, however, wasn't done.

"So maybe I am weak compared to you," the desert bandit continued. "Maybe you could pound the hell out of me right now, and it'd be easy for you. But I'm not scared of you, _Prince_. And I know for a fact that you'll never truly be the Alpha and Omega. As long as Goku's still alive, you'll always play second fiddle to him. Just like the rest of us."

Vegeta was left shocked and speechless by the nerve of the human in front of him. How shocked he was that a _human_ of all things would dare to speak to him this way! His fists were balled up as he entertained the want to break the desert bandit's neck with a punch... but he decided against it. Such a meager life-form was below his wrath.

"Just because I'm impressed by your gall," Vegeta snarled, "I'll let that slide."

He turned around and looked to leave the room, fuming. Before reaching the door, he stopped to say something else.

"But mark my words," the Saiyan Prince grumbled. "I won't tolerate such insolence next time."

"Sure, whatever," said Yamcha casually. "By the way, you look good in pink... at least you're confident about yourself."

Vegeta seethed furiously and stormed out, cursing his shirt and tugging at it with irate ferocity. Yamcha smiled with triumphant satisfaction as the agitated Saiyan took his leave, deciding that what he'd said was a much better comeback.

* * *

**And there we are. Chapter 2 is out.**

**Safe to say, there have been a lot of plans written up for this story, to be perfectly honest. This all started with a roleplay on Discord with Childhood Enigma, and I decided that I just had to start writing. **

**And no, not everything you see here will be from just the anime. Expect to see some movie stuff, too. Cooler and his Armored Squad will most certainly make an appearance, as will the Big Gete Star, the three experimental Androids, Doctor Raichi and Hatchiyack, Bojack and the Galaxy Warriors, Janemba, and Hirudegarn. To be honest, I have only seen the movie versions of Battle of Gods and Resurrection "F," but not anything from Super. I will have to see the storylines of Champa and Zamasu as well, but I most likely will not include the Tournament of Power because of plot reasons. But yes, Canon Broly (and Chirai and Lemo) will still appear. I might also add some GT stuff, as while the plot had some... lackluster stuff, the villains were quite intriguing, and I might place the events of GT _between_ Z and Super for power level reasons. I really don't know.**

**Anyways, with that said, I hope you can expect a great deal of interesting stuff in the future. I'll try my best with this fic, as someone has gotta give Yamcha something in life.**

**That's all I gotta say. And with that, I'll see you next update.**

**Sky-Kaiser out.**


	4. Chapter III: A Terror Greater Than Hell

**Hello, boys! I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!**

**All humor aside, I think it's time we actually began and entered the Future Trunks Saga, where we meet the strange boy from the Future.**

**Now remember, there will be some things different from canon, so hang with me.**** Humans will be stronger, and a few more characters will be included. Also, don't expect everything you see in this fic to be completely accurate with the show and movies.**

**Got it? OK. Let's begin!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**Chapter 3: A Terror Greater Than Hell**

* * *

**Light-years away from Earth, in a foreign Star Cluster...**

Drifting aimlessly in space, between the orbit of three suns, was a mass of rocks that spanned about the width of a planet. In fact, this asteroid cluster used to be the planet of Namek, home to the Namekian race. It had been a peaceful planet, once. Then Frieza, the evil emperor of the universe, arrived on the planet to find the Dragon Balls the Namekians had created for themselves. Most of the Namekians were slain, and the planet was ultimately destroyed in a climactic battle. All that remained was this cloud in debris, drifting in space.

Floating in a circular path around the incoherent mass of space dust was a saucer-shaped vessel of massive scope, armed with twelve, folded identical "legs" of grey hue that seemed to serve as a kind of landing gear. Beside these "legs" were a number of goldenrod curves next to circular windows with blue-colored glass. Along the posterior of the ship was a number of bordered bands of tan-brown hue, reinforcing the grey top of the ship's hull where a black retractable opening lead into the belly of the vessel for occupants to exit and enter at their leisure. On the forward flank of the disc-shaped ship were placed three amethyst-tinted viewing screens, two smaller on either side of the larger, in a bulbous angle jutting from the upper half of the space craft. No doubt, the profile resembled that of a flagship created by the finest and brightest of the Planet Trade Organization.

These screens of purple hue formed as the clear shield between the cold vacuum of space and the numerous alien races that worked the ship's primary functions, all stationed at several control computers as they typed in commands. Some of the extraterrestrials manning the ship's functions were amphibians with elongated heads. Others were reptilians with small fangs protruding out of their snouts and little horns pointing out as crests. A few of these crewmen were possibly human as well, perhaps hailing from other planets either taken over by the empire that governed the Planet Trade Organization, or had willingly joined the super conglomerate.

Sitting in bored posture on a throne-like rotating chair in the center of the bridge was a formidable figure of considerable size, red eyes glaring with apparent annoyance outside the viewing screen and into the space beyond. The being had a large white cranium sporting a large, shiny, deep turquoise organ that resembled a gem in the center, with segmented horns protruding from either side of his head. His skin was a light shade of purple, with dark red, segmented scales running down the sides of his face. His lips were the the same color as these scales, giving him the most microscopically feminine appearance. His hands were human-like (minus being tipped with claws instead of nails), but his feet were tridactyl, with three long toes tipped with long claws. His forearms and shins were covered in a white cartilage that served as natural gauntlets and greaves with pink segmented pads. A long tail protruded from the top of his pelvis, pink and segmented, with a white, bony spike at the tip. This man, unmistakably a Frost Demon, wore a dark blue suit of armor with segmented pauldrons and abdomen plates of reddish-tan hue. A long, black cape with red interior was cinched onto the top of the breastplate.

This was King Cold, the father of Lord Frieza and the former Emperor of the Universe, before he allowed his son to take charge. Years ago, it was he who had commanded the galaxy with an iron fist, but he later allowed his prodigy of an offspring to take his place. And now, the son in question was missing. Of course, his son was the reason that he had ventured here. And King Cold was understandably annoyed. Annoyed at the fact his son was nowhere to be found.

It was almost as if he had simply disappeared... or if he had been slain.

The last transmission that Frieza sent back was about trying to get the situation on Namek under control, that someone had killed the entire Ginyu Force, and that he was headed to take care of the dilemma. King Cold had reason to believe that Frieza was responsible for Namek's obliteration, but given the way the planet exploded, it must have been delayed, as it didn't properly strike the core. But the explosion couldn't have killed Frieza. Of course, this led to a delusional theory.

That someone had _killed_ Frieza.

But who? There were no races in the galaxy who could match the strength that the Frost Demons held. And that left the former king of the Frost Demons discontent. If something or someone had killed his offspring...

"Your Majesty, Cold..."

King Cold extricated himself from his thoughts to look at the one addressing him: Nabana, one of his lieutenants. Nabana was a cousin of Appule, one of the soldiers who accompanied Frieza. An octopus-like humanoid with an elongated cranium, he was distinctive through his pure red eyes and sea green complexion with speckles of darker green. His armor was much like King Cold's, as were the armor of the other men operating the ship. The difference was that Nabana's armor was colored dark-blue with grey pauldrons and abdomen plate. Also, he wore no cape, just like all the other soldiers.

"Report," said King Cold in a surly tone.

"My lord," said Nabana, bowing so low that his snout nearly touched the ground. "We've found him. Lord Frieza is alive. We have recovered his body... he has been severely mutilated, but we may be able to salvage him completely."

"After all that time?" King Cold pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed irritably. "And here I was beginning to believe he had been senselessly annihilated. What did you find of him, Lieutenant?"

"Body was torn apart, from the looks of it," explained Nabana. "Seemed by a energy blast. And from it's aura senses, it would appear it was from...a Saiyan."

King Cold snorted in amusement. "You mean the likes of Vegeta?" The Frost Demon chuckled. "Now, now, Nabana, not even an upstart royal fool such as him could do such a thing."

"I never said it was Vegeta..." Nabana ventured tremulously.

"Oh?" murmured King Cold, seemingly with a lack of interest.

"The power level signatures we found on Frieza's body were extraordinarily high," explained Nabana. "It's almost as if the person who did this were a Super Saiyan-"

That phrase struck the king's ire. Instantly, he rose to his feet, standing at a towering 7'3" that made Nabana shriek and jump backwards. Cold turned his cruel visage upon Nabana, with a dangerous snarl upon his face.

"Super Saiyan?" he snarled in a voice that suggested that he was quite offended at the theory. "There is _no such thing_ as a Super Saiyan. It was dismissed as a _legend_ long ago. Do not insinuate such _rubbish._"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" whimpered Nabana, cowering before his master. "Please have mercy on me for saying that, it was dumb to even think about it!"

"Just lead me to my son and cease this pathetic display of cowardice," grumbled King Cold.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" cried Nabana, running ahead of his master and out of the bridge while King Cold slowly followed him down the corridors.

Cape and tail swirling behind him, the king of the Frost Demons marched along, following the whimpering Nabana down the corridors of the ship. Numerous soldiers acknowledged the towering horned alien with a quick salute, but every one showed at least some shred of fear for the tyrant, as he was one who ruled through such doctrine. King Cold's mind was filled with annoyance at his lieutenant's nonsensical beliefs.

"Fool that Nabana is," grumbled King Cold under his breath. "How dare he try and insinuate that such an outlandish thing exists... he is rather lucky that he has such a prestigious position under my command, or I would have slain him just now for that _asinine_ assumption."

Marching into the hangar bay of the ship, he was quick to notice the crew of Frieza Force Soldiers carting a floating bed supported by a small propulsion engine... and his son laying upon it. King Cold felt a tinge of horror upon seeing the body. While he was quite used to seeing the bodies of the mangled, having spent many centuries laying waste to countless planets, there was something quite different about seeing his offspring in such a condition. The body of Lord Frieza appeared to have been torn in half. All that remained of him was the left half of his head, most of his chest, some sagging entrails coming from where he seemed to have been cut in half through the waist, and part of his right arm. He was covered in bruises, cuts, and splotches of his own magenta blood, indicating that he had been in a fight. He was also in his true birth form, not one of the restricted forms that he usually adopted to contain his power in order to keep it under control. In addition, his muscles were strained and weary, a clear sign that he had actually used 100% of his power.

But what could have provoked Frieza into use the entirety of his strength?

Mysteries. Mysteries abound. And King Cold grew suddenly angry, causing those in his company to grow even more fearful. He hated being in the dark regarding such things...

...and as his anger rose, so did his aura.

It was barely visible, like an actual heat haze radiating from his body (ironic, given his name). It was hardly apparent, but Nabana and the other soldiers sensed it, and as well as becoming extremely apprehensive. Everyone in King Cold's presence was terrified, especially given the situation. All of them begged to whatever deity they paid reverence to - and whoever had no religious beliefs, simply hoped - that the Frost Demon monarch would not turn their wrath upon them.

Reaching the medical bay, several extraterrestrial doctors quickly rushed to the aid of the horrifically mutilated son of King Cold, rushing to plug him in with many medical devices as Cold himself watched from the sidelines. His arms crossed, his mind was in turmoil. An unfeeling being such as Cold hardly felt much sympathy for his son. He _did_ feel it, but he preferred to keep it at a minimal. His kind were masters at being - or pretending to be - unfeeling. The concern for his son existed, but it was unnaturally suppressed. And his stone cold, un-moving expression probably terrified everyone in the room. Nabana himself had to gulp at the sight of the seemingly emotionless father of the universe's self-proclaimed ruler.

"Damage?"

Nabana yelped, but quickly straightened up as if to save face to his commanding officer.

"Sir!" Nabana spoke quickly. "Frieza has not sustained any mortal damage thanks to his anatomy, so we are planning to replace what he has lost with cybernetic implants. This process might take place over the course of several hours, but he should be able to recuperate."

"Just get it done," grumbled King Cold quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I care not what means you use."

"Yes sir!" said Nabana, attempting to keep a straight face and not let his fear betray his composure.

Hours passed. Numerous technicians were brought in, and they began to work non-stop as they started to assemble mechanical limbs and body parts to replace what was lost. A sort of cranial structure for the side of Frieza's head. A plate of armor to cover a ghastly wound on the right side of Frieza's chest. A mechanical arm for the one he lost. And to make up for his lost legs and tail, a robotic set of those. The process was long and arduous, and King Cold was like a statue as he stood over the process, as moving and unfeeling as one. And everyone within close proximity of him were as wary as prey in the sight of their predators.

Time was lost to all in the room, but they felt as if it were a dreadful, terror-struck eternity. But eventually, they had managed to graft every metal part onto Frieza's body, cauterizing them to his frame.

I think we're finishing up, my Lord," Nabana said, relieved. "He should be waking up... right..."

Slowly, Frieza's left eye opened as slowly as possible. The one on his right side - which was actually a photo-receptor that replaced his original right eye - opened instantly. The Frost Demon moved feebly, shifting upon the operation table, before blinking unevenly. His robotic arm instinctively reached for his head as his organic parts strained to move. Frieza managed to force a quiet groan from his mouth. The same voice as before, but with a synthetic tinge to his vocal chords.

"Frieza," said King Cold silently.

Frieza, finally managing the strength for his non-robotic parts to move, sat up on the medical table to look at his father and several doctors backing up to show respect for his space. He absentmindedly stared at his mechanical limbs, then back at his patriarchal figure.

He had spent weeks floating in space, having silent nightmares about the first person to defeat him. That _Saiyan_ from Earth.

He clenched his fist.

"Father," Frieza finally replied, his voice dull and emotionless.

"Are you well?" asked King Cold, with the air of someone commenting on the weather rather than one being concerned for his child's safety. "Our best doctors did our best to rehabilitate-"

"I _know,_" Frieza snarled, shifting off the table with a great suddenness; nearly everyone in the room backed away out of pure, unbridled fear. One humanoid alien even jumped into Nabana's arms, much to the latter's chagrin; he dropped the soldier on the ground and chided him for acting so cowardly in Frieza's presence... though Nabana himself was just about as scared as all his fellow men were.

"Father," Frieza continued, with a cruel, seething stride in his voice. "I want a course plotted for the Sol System in the Local Cluster. To a planet called Earth."

King Cold quickly felt himself swarmed by annoying soldiers that were cowering and whimpering like frightened children almost instantly. Annoyed, he flared out his aura at about a quarter percent of its intensity. The soldiers crowding King Cold shrieked and backed away, then quickly tried to assume a less fear-stricken posture, so as to save face with their superiors.

"Fools..." King Cold said dismissively, before replying back to Frieza. "If I may inquire, what business do you have on this..." The Frost Demon monarch pronounced the next word like a human would pronounce the name of an alien word: "...'Earth'?"

Frieza's teeth were bared, anger overwhelming filling his being as his thoughts focused singlemindedly on the first person to defeat him...

"I wish to reduce this planet I speak of into space dust."

* * *

**A week later, on Planet Earth...**

Yamcha was back to what he considered his common training regimen, as he was taking a quick jog on the streets of West City. For the past week, he and Vegeta had been at each other's throats. The usual jabs and so on, and both parties managed to score the last word on each other... but he put that aside to train today, which was a welcome break from such things. And he still had his baseball season with the Taitans coming up.

It had also been a week since he saw Maron that one time, and that left him curious as to what she might be up to. Nobody knew about his one meeting with her, and perhaps this was for the best, for if Krillin or Bulma found out... but it wasn't that big a deal. Yamcha and Maron were nothing more than simple friends. But Yamcha was pretty sure that if _those two_ saw her again, only God, Kami, King Kai or whatever other transcendent being in this universe could know what kind of hell would be raised.

Still, Yamcha somewhat wished that he knew what Maron did for work, and yet he chided himself for this since he was supposed to be loyal to Bulma. But he still remembered that grating feeling the moment that Vegeta showed up; the same one he always felt when Bulma felt infatuation for other men. It especially didn't help that, where most men that Bulma crushed on happened to be villains who were quickly dealt with, Vegeta was a villain who was possibly going to be staying with them for a while. And Bulma, though she denied it, obviously found him interesting.

Of course, Yamcha had rather expected it to happen. He already knew in his own heart. He had always feared and resented the fact that the day might come where another guy would _really_ come between him and Bulma... but maybe Bulma's petty attractions wouldn't be permanent?

To shake himself from these annoying thoughts, Yamcha made a detour to a nearby store to claim some drink. Despite his amazing status as one of the strongest humans on the planet, even he experienced fatigue. And this tended to happen with such a person that had been jogging around town on his lonesome since early this morning (since around 6:00 AM, as a matter of fact), but training to stay in shape came with the territory.

After taking a tour of the store to collect some energy drinks for the continuation of his jog, he made his way to the cash register, hardly making any effort to notice the person at the register.

"OK," said the ex-bandit casually as he moved the four bottles onto the small conveyor belt at the register. "I'll take these energy drinks here, and be out your-"

"Yamcha!"

_"Hey?!"_ Yamcha exclaimed unsteadily as he locked eyes with the woman at the register. Maron! Indeed, the blunette was clad in a red vest worn over a burgundy t-shirt and matching skirt. Unseen to him, she was wearing black high-heels, and a copper name tag was placed on her left breast. As usual, her clothing did very little good in trying to hide her... curves.

"Maron, you..." Yamcha had been thrown for a loop. How had their paths crossed that quickly? "You, uh... work here?"

"Yup!" Maron chirped. "Funny, I was _just_ thinking about you..."

"Really?" said Yamcha, regaining his casual demeanor. "Well, guess we have the same thought process!"

Maron giggled. "So... keeping yourself fit? I can tell by the sweat."

Yamcha nodded and wiped his brow, which was pretty much saturated. "Yeah," he replied, his mouth feeling as dry as his skin was wet. "Also... I'm getting ready for Baseball season. It's a month away."

"Oh, that's right!" Maron said with dawning comprehension.

"What?"

"I hardly keep up with sports," Maron admitted. "I'm more a movie girl myself... but I do remember hearing you joined up with some sports team. I just didn't remember what. So you do baseball?"

"Uh, yeah!" said Yamcha. "Yeah, I started training for baseball around the same time the Saiyans arrived, but I never really got into it until about two years ago. I play for the West City Taitans."

"I _knew_ I'd seen you somewhere else," said Maron pointedly. "I just didn't know where..." She looked past Yamcha for a second to see if there was a growing line at her register. Thankfully, there was no one. She then returned to the conversation. "So! How was your first time with your girlfriend? Did you finally do it?"

Yamcha's face faltered.

"Uh-oh..." said Maron worriedly. "Something happen?"

Yamcha felt an embarrassed blush creep upon his cheeks, feeling ashamed of what had happened a week ago. No matter what way he put it, the incident still sounded extremely humiliating.

"Well..." Yamcha let out a deep sigh. "We _almost_ did it. We were just about to seal the deal, in fact. Bulma had taken her bra off, but... you remember me telling you about a certain guy named Vegeta?"

"That guy who got you killed?"

"Yeah. See," Yamcha continued, suddenly feeling himself sweat again despite the cool environment of the store. "Me and Bulma were just about to... you know. And then Vegeta came crashing out of the sky in a space pod! So... yeah. Basically, I was unintentionally cock-blocked."

"Oof..." Maron mumbled as Yamcha looked at the floor, looking somewhat ashamed. "That... that has to be the queen of all cock-blocks..."

"Tell me about it," Yamcha sighed, leaning against the cash register. "And I think it gets worse..."

"How so?"

"Well..." Yamcha suddenly noticed someone was coming up to Maron's register. "Hey, Maron? When do you get off?"

Maron looked at a small silver watch on her wrist. "My shift ends in about 5 minutes," she replied, looking back up. "Just give me a minute to wrap everything up and I'll be good to go."

* * *

The 5 minutes passed a lot like clockwork, as soon Yamcha was slowly jogging alongside Maron, still meaning to keep up his exercise. Maron herself was headed back to her house alongside West City Beach, as it was not far from her job.

As they walked, Maron took her time to glimpse over Yamcha's particularly well-defined features. She remembered her first flirtatious interaction with the man. How she had leaned flirtatiously over him and suggested that maybe they go out, despite her being in a relationship with Krillin at the time, and him being with Bulma. Yamcha's response had been a quiet, half-hearted agreement coupled with a retreat, as he had no intentions of doing Bulma like that. But even now, Maron couldn't deny how alluring the ex-bandit was. Perfectly chiseled features and muscles. A handsome face. Scars across his cheeks. Long, scraggly hair. He was undeniably handsome in many ways. Maron blushed and looked away, coming to the conclusion that she indeed found Yamcha attractive.

Yamcha himself didn't notice Maron eating the eye candy, so he didn't say anything until Maron decided to restart where they left off in the store.

"So... what's worse?"

"Huh?"

"Your relationship, I mean..." explained Maron.

"Oh, yeah..." Yamcha rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Well... it's crazy to think of, but I guess I knew it would happen eventually. You see... Bulma's always been into 'bad boys,' so to speak. And..."

He gulped.

"I think Bulma is attracted to Vegeta."

Maron gasped, and rounded on Yamcha.

"Hush your damn mouth!" she snapped. "What kind of slut...?!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on!" Yamcha laughed nervously, stopping his jogging pace to put his hands up. "I mean..." he continued, looking to the side as if to find a proper explanation to Bulma's unknown crush. "I never said she showed it openly, but... like I said, Bulma's type has always been bad boys. And I used to be that bad boy."

"But isn't that a little far?" asked Maron, one eyebrow raised over the other. "I mean, you're talking about your girlfriend falling for a _mass murderer_ from _space._"

"You wouldn't be so surprised if you knew Bulma as well as I do," replied Yamcha. "Bulma pretty much stares at anyone with good looks, and that makes me wonder... whenever I touch her, or kiss her... does she see Vegeta instead of me?"

Maron shrugged. "I don't know," she answered back. "But when I was with Krillin, I thought of nothing but him, and him only."

_'Besides that time I flirted with you,'_ she added to herself in her mind. _'I can't even remember if I was being serious back then...'_

But she _did_ find Yamcha cute...

"I don't know..." Yamcha sighed, taking a deep breath as he continued his jog. "I still love Bulma. And I'd fight for her to the bloody end, but..."

"...but the fact that your girlfriend tends to stare at other men gets to you," Maron concluded. "How many men has she gone after while you were together?"

"I really don't wanna know," admitted Yamcha. "But I'm pretty sure it's been at least half a dozen..."

"Ouch..." Maron decided to make another statement. "Well, you said you guys have been going out for about a decade? If that's the case, she always came back to you..."

"Yeah," muttered Yamcha sourly. "But it doesn't help matters. Every time she goes staring, her eyes always speak 'major upgrade.' I feel like she'd drop me like a sack of potatoes if she could..."

"Well... if it's that bad," Maron wondered aloud, "...have you ever felt like your relationship was getting nowhere? I mean, what are you gonna do if it doesn't, and it ends? You really have no idea what you'll do?"

"That's the gist of it..." sighed Yamcha. "All these years I've been with Bulma, and I just don't... I don't know. I just don't know."

"Hmm..." Maron pondered these things a few times over, leaving a small silence between her and her company. "Well... if worse comes to worse and it ends, you at least have friends."

"I guess so..." Yamcha said quietly...

_'But I want more than_ that,_'_ a dreary voice in his head spoke._ 'I don't wanna spend my life alone in uncertainty.'_

Hiding his discontent state of mind, he lent Maron a smile. "Hey, uh, thanks. I... really appreciate these talks we have."

"Don't mention it," replied Maron, nudging his shoulder. "Besides, it's nice getting to see people from the past every now and then. I'd kinda like to see the whole gang again someday, but..."

The reference to those Yamcha knew so well sparked up an idea that he instantly threw out: "Hey, maybe I can introduce you to everyone again!"

The suggestion came at Maron instantly, and she was not prepared for it at all. This was a proposition to meet people that she had not seen in the span of a whole year, but this was not what scared her. It was the fact that she would most likely have to see her ex-boyfriend. And given how she simply walked away from the break-up like it was no big whoop - and was picked up by another man shortly after - Krillin probably hated her and had told everyone what a horrible person she was. Surely they wouldn't welcome her back after her previous actions, even if she regretted them! And that wasn't even counting Chi-Chi and Bulma, whom she had insulted many times...

Instantly, she began to wave her hands defensively while protesting, which alerted Yamcha to having said something tactless.

"What?" she squeaked, high-pitched. "I... no! No no no no no! I mean... Yamcha, I can't... not after I..."

"Whoa, whoa, OK," Yamcha put his hands up as well. "Never mind, Maron, I... well, I didn't say you had to meet them all now... maybe later?"

"I'm sorry, Yamcha..." Maron groaned. "I mean..."

But before she could say what she meant, a phone rang. Yamcha whirled around to his pocket, and it was his phone going off. Giving Maron an index finger as an indication to wait, he accepted the call and placed the device to the side of his head.

"Hello?" he answered.

_"__Hey,__ Yamcha." _It was Bulma, and she sounded somewhat harried. Before he could question her, Bulma continued, forcing Yamcha to swallow his words._ "Look, it's important. Vegeta's freaking out. He says he sensed Frieza or something.__"_

It took a second for Yamcha to register with the words, and he suddenly felt a great fear come over him. Frieza? _Frieza_ was coming? The Emperor of the Universe he heard from King Kai about? The one who destroyed the Saiyan race?! The one Goku killed?!

Maron, noticing his expression, leaned over to lock eyes with him. Maron veering into Yamcha's line of sight snapped him out of his frozen state and he answered back.

"I'll be right over."

_"__Bring your Gi, too!__"_

After that quick call, Yamcha acknowledged Maron on what information he had received. "Yeah, Maron, I gotta go. Something big popped up, as in huge..."

"What?"

"I'm not entirely sure," said Yamcha seriously. "But it's something about Frieza..."

_"Frieza..."_ Maron mouthed the word, taking the name out of her memory bank and reminding herself of who it was that bore this name. "Isn't that the name of that alien guy who blew up planets or..." It took the length of that whole sentence for her to suddenly realize the meaning of what Yamcha had said, and the enormity of the whole situation struck her. "Should I..." Maron continued slowly. "Should I start preparing for the destruction of Earth or...?"

"No, no," assured Yamcha. "We'll handle it." He began to run down the sidewalk before taking flight as fast as he could, bound for Capsule Corp. "Sorry, gotta go, see ya!"

"Uh, OK!" Maron called out after him, feeling a great deal nervous as she saw Yamcha fly out of sight.

* * *

**Outside of Earth's atmosphere, past Mars...**

The ominous shape of King Cold's saucer-like mothership hovered forth, on a beeline for the majestic planet called Earth. The ship itself was an irregularity in the Sol System, foreign to the planets that did not acknowledge its existence. Without shred of caution, it loomed slowly towards its intended target.

Within the bridge, the cybernetically enhanced Lord Frieza, Emperor of the Universe, the strongest in the cosmos, oversaw the view beyond the violet-tinted glass of his father's spaceship. Said parental figure sat within his command chair, casually seated with his hand placed on the side of his cheek. Both pairs of red eyes observed the beautiful planet within view of their ship.

"Curious," Frieza commented, his mechanical tail curling up. "That simian bastard originated on such a lovely planet. I only knew the name of it, but it is quite beautiful."

"Quite," agreed King Cold with a chuckle. "I would very much like to add it to our collection of planets under our rule. That is, after we find this Saiyan who humiliated you."

"I never grow weary of reducing thriving populations to lowly slaves," Frieza admitted, making a light snicker that was as chilling as his persona. Numerous crewmen around them shivered.

"I only find it surprising that we have never found this elegant place yet," King Cold mused, placing his hand on his chin. "We have not ventured near this star cluster very much."

"At least our journey her has proven fortuitous, Father," replied Frieza, his lips curled into a grin. "The Saiyan indeed discovered a very... eye-catching place to begin his life."

Frieza closed his remaining organic eye and his photo-receptor replacement closed to together as the Frost Demon fantasized his revenge against the Saiyan known as Son Goku.

"But it will end soon. And this planet will be property of our empire..."

* * *

**And with that done, the Future Trunks Saga is very much underway. In all verity, I really hope more people read this fanfiction besides just 5 or 6 people. And I pray for more reviews. But please don't flame.**

**As you know, yes, I am incorporating the movies into this timeline, but only one movie in this timeline has taken place so far. And that is the Dead Zone movie with Garlic Junior. Doctor Wheelo, Turles, and Lord Slug do not exist, as their appearances would've taken place during the Namek Arc. So there is no mention of them in this universe. Moreso, the trilogy of Broly movies will not take place, since Canon Broly exists.**

**On an added note, I would also like to thank LastationLover5000, the _amazing_ author of _The Erased Chronicles_, for some help on descriptions in this chapter.**

**I think that's all I need to write down. I will see you in the next chapter.**

**Sky-Kaiser out.**


	5. Chapter IV: The Chilling Monarch

**And here we go again. The first true battle in this story is preparing to take place, and things will be revealed.**

**Oh, boy, this is going to be a _long_ chapter...**

**Don't worry, though. I have no plans of leaving this story incomplete. And even if I go on hiatus, I'll still come back to continue what was begun. Just saying, though... this particular chappie is gonna be a long, hard piece of work.**

**So let us begin****...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**Chapter 4: The Chilling Monarch**

* * *

**Capsule Corp...**

Quickly coming into view of Capsule Corp, Yamcha arrived upon the balcony where he and Bulma usually hung out. Said blunette, as well as her father Doctor Briefs and his cat Puar, came to greet him. Sitting at the table, looking intensely nervous (which was really out of character for this particular person), was an extremely pale Vegeta, hands on his head.

"Yamcha, you're here!" chirped Puar, flying up to meet her lord in mid-air.

"Hey, Puar..." chuckled Yamcha, reaching out to scratch behind the tiny feline's ears as he looked to position himself on the balcony.

"You took a while," Bulma snorted as Yamcha came to land in front of her.

"I was just going jogging," explained Yamcha. "Baseball season..."

Thankfully, Bulma didn't follow up with any questions and merely dismissed the issue without word. Yamcha, however, felt perturbed by Bulma's greeting. It would be nice to receive a "hello" or a hug, but she still treated him like the friend that no one liked. It was pretty much the "welcome" he got from her ever since he came back from the dead.

"We're glad you came by, son," said Doctor Briefs jovially, shrugging as his eyes rolled over to Vegeta. "Vegeta's been panicking non-stop since 10 minutes ago..."

At the sound of his name being called, Vegeta leaped up and let out a stressed exclamation of mixed fury and worry. He began pacing back and forth in a set motion while rambling: "I can't stress enough how serious this whole situation is! It's infuriating!"

"Vegeta," Panchy Briefs said softly as she arrived, stepping onto the balcony, carrying a few lemonades on a tray. "You're still not mad about the pink shirt, are you?"

"This has nothing to do with that atrocity I wore last week!" shouted Vegeta. "Even if I was still irritated about that, this is different! It's Frieza! He's alive, and he is _coming to Earth!_ Somehow that damned imbecile Kakarot failed to kill him!"

"Is he being serious?" groaned Bulma. "I just think he's being delusional..."

"No, I sense something too..."

He had been neglecting it earlier, but he had sensed... something... earlier. Yamcha decided to tune in his senses, using his knowledge of the power of _ki_ to sense something beyond Earth's atmosphere... and it was close. Very close. A power level as unbelievable and as mighty as only one other man he knew who could reach such a level...

Wait.

There were two energies?

"Vegeta..." Yamcha said slowly. "Don't you sense that other power...?"

"Other...?"

Vegeta snapped his attention to the sky and concentrated himself. In doing so, he managed to divide the power of the being he believed was Frieza, and managed to scan a separate power, slightly stronger, and very similar to Frieza's...

"...damn it..."

"What?"

"He brought his father," snarled Vegeta, his voice still wavering with fear. "It wasn't enough that he come here himself?! He had to bring the mighty King Cold here?!"

Everyone quickly tensed. Frieza had a father? If so, then he must be unimaginably powerful!

"Bulma," Yamcha said, quickly turning to Bulma. "The others need to know about this. We need them over here now."

"Already did it," Bulma replied. "They should be here soon. We also checked the satellite to see where exactly the ship will land. It seems to be headed for the Northern Wastelands..."

"It's no use, I'm telling you!" shouted Vegeta. "Have you gone brain-dead?! As much as I hate to admit, we need Kakarot! He's the only one who can actually fight Frieza and his father and not be destroyed instantly!"

"Yeah, well Goku isn't here," snapped Yamcha. "Goku hasn't been seen for two years. We're all we got right now. And we're not being given the choice to cower. So don't act like we should be too scared to fight, even if we're totally out of our league!"

However, Yamcha instinctively grew tense when Vegeta rounded on him. Forgetting that Vegeta was still greatly disturbed by the possible return of the most feared being in the entire galaxy, he was still a very formidable figure. It would take something particularly embarrassing to make Vegeta lose the naturally powerful and intimidating air he usually had around him.

"Are you trying to say," Vegeta implied, "that if you were me, and I were Frieza or his father, you wouldn't feel a shred of fear? Because I can very much tell you're just as nervous about me in your personal space as I am of Frieza coming to destroy this mud ball in space."

"No, that's not it at all," said Yamcha, refusing to back down. "I'll admit. I'm scared, too. I'm petrified at the fact that I possibly came back to life not long ago simply to die again. But I'm not prepared to sit on my ass and do nothing. Are you?"

Vegeta wanted to argue back as he usually did, but once again he was at a loss of words in front of the desert bandit.

"Damn you..." Vegeta snarled, whirling around and going back to pacing. "If the situation weren't that serious, I'd kill you right now..."

Yamcha was pretty sure he would, so he didn't say anything. However, he was secretly smug at that he had won yet another argument over Vegeta.

Soon after the settlement of this exchange, the silhouettes of five people appeared in the sky, wreathed in white aura. Bulma instantly recognized them and called out to the others on the new arrivals as they landed upon the balcony, coming to rest in a straight line. Son Gohan, with hair as unkempt as Yamcha's, clad in a small suit of flexible armor stolen from the spaceship Frieza commandeered before its destruction on Namek. Krillin, short in stature, bald-headed, and clad in the orange Gi worn by the students of the Turtle School of martial arts. Tien Shinhan, contrasting to Krillin in being almost twice as tall as the bald monk, wearing a green baggy Gi with a single shoulder tank top. Chiaotzu, the smallest of the five, childlike in stature with pale white skin and rosy cheeks, clad in a small black hat with a red top, and a tank top of his own (only with both shoulders) with black pants. And Piccolo, very alien from the others with green skin, long ears, antennae hidden under a turban, and clad in a purple Gi combined with a long white cape with pauldrons.

"Hey, Yamcha!" said Krillin in a chipper tone not particularly correct with the situation. "We got the news," he added in a more worried voice, which better befitted the scenario.

"So," said Piccolo, stoic as usual in such dire moments. "Frieza is still alive."

"And he brought his father," Yamcha informed them, the additional info succeeding in making the new arrivals (minus Piccolo, ever the unfettered) more worried than before. "So that means double the trouble."

"And they're going to the Northern Wastelands," added Bulma. "They should be entering the atmosphere soon."

"Well if he's so close, we need to go!" Gohan piped up, bouncing up and down on his feet. "I need to get back home before afternoon, Mom needs me to finish my pre-calculus studies tonight!"

Without much word, the Z Fighters plus Vegeta made to take off, but suddenly they found Bulma in their way.

"Hold up you guys..." she said, walking up to Yamcha. "I wanna come with. Take me with you."

"Back off, woman!" said Vegeta tartly, walking in front of the two of them and attempting to usher Bulma back over to her parents. "We don't need you dragging us down, you'll end up captured."

"Screw you, Saiyan Prince!" Bulma replied with flare. "I wanna see this Frieza person for myself, and it's not like I'm gonna get in your way of satisfying your fight boner!"

"Fine..." groaned Yamcha, picking Bulma up off her feet. He, too, was also against Bulma coming, but felt as if he had no say in the manner. Bulma was a woman with a really demanding personality. If she wanted something, she would get it. One way or another.

"Look, if you're coming, just don't get too close," advised Tien. "Otherwise, you'll end up just like everyone here. All of us - minus Gohan - have died at least once."

"Just let us handle it, OK?" added Chiaotzu, giving Bulma a wink.

As Bulma situated herself correctly in Yamcha's arms, she gave a glance over to her parents, bidding them farewell.

"Mom, Dad, I'll be back soon!"

"Do be careful, dear," said Doctor Briefs. "Please try not to end up hurt or anything!"

"Come back safely!" chirped Panchy sweetly.

"Be careful, Lord Yamcha," Puar added to her closest friend.

"Don't you worry about me, Puar," Yamcha assured her, as he turned with Bulma in his arms and made to take off, followed by the others as they set off to the first thing to threaten Earth since Goku's late brother Raditz came to the planet with devious intentions...

* * *

**An hour later, the Northern Wastelands...**

The landscape of the opposing sides' chosen destination, while more fertile than other landmarks where past interstellar incursions had happened, was still devoid of any significant form of life. Nevertheless, spots of green enamored the hills with odd bits of rock protruding from the ground, eventually leading to sizable peaks that dotted the vista. Particularly like the selected landing zone for the saucer-shaped spacecraft belonging to the invaders, they curved into vertical spires that reached up towards the sky.

Needless to say, anyone visiting the planet for the first time would find such a place to be dreadfully droll.

These were the thoughts of the Z Fighters, plus Vegeta and Bulma Briefs, as they surveyed from a cliff as said spaceship, hovering ominously over the landscape, attempted to select a place to land. The eerie droning of the spacecraft carried on as it eventually selected a flat plain of rock to position itself over before lowering, extending out its landing gear "legs" as its altitude decreased. As the ship finally settled down, the "legs" bent down to safely rest the ship on the ground. Hydraulics hissed as the ship came to a halt in the canyon below.

Above on the plateau, the Z Fighters watched with a feel of wariness, waiting for something to reveal itself. As they did, Yamcha quietly decided to initiate inquisitive conversation on what they faced.

"Frieza's father?" Yamcha whispered. "Bad enough that he exists, but he has a dad to come crying to when someone beats the hell out of him?"

"Yes," Vegeta muttered back. "Frieza is the face of the organization, being the Emperor of the Universe, but King Cold is the man behind him. Cold was once Emperor himself, and while relationships between Cold and the Saiyans were... strained, he at least _tolerated_ our people, even if he might have harbored prejudice against us. But when he stepped down to let Frieza take control... it all devolved from that point on, especially with how Frieza was very _open_ about his disdain for Saiyans."

"And this led to him destroying your planet when he ultimately decided he had no longer need of you," concluded Piccolo.

"Hmph..."

Vegeta peeked over the edge of the wall of rock they were hiding behind, scanning for any sign of extraterrestrial invaders exiting the ship. When nothing happened, he looked back to the others.

"As far as power levels go," Vegeta continued, "I do believe Cold is more powerful than his son. I'm not entirely sure if he has the ability to transform, or whether that was a mutation Frieza developed. All of Frieza's family are mutants, after all... but he is most definitely not an opponent to be trifled with."

"Wonderful..." grumbled Gohan, having found himself in a very pessimistic mood what with the intrusion of an intergalactic tyrant on their doorstep. "So we have two aliens of almost equal strength ready to invade the planet, and they can't be beaten by anyone minus my father, who had to fulfill an ancient prophecy in order to actually be able to win against them." He groaned audibly, his gut constricting. "I'm surprised that no one's freaking out at the moment..."

"We should be trained at this point not to be unsettled by these kinds of events," said Tien, voice tense and hitched as if he were experiencing a chill. "But you're right, Gohan. With the odds not in our favor, I think we all feel kind of small. Besides," he added grimly, "there's no avoiding it... I really believe some of us will die here..."

"We could probably take on all of Frieza's troops," suggested Chiaotzu. "But then that would leave Frieza and his dad. And then..." He shuddered, trying not to think of the myriad ways Frieza could possibly kill them all.

"Geez, I've died twice already," Krillin complained. "I don't want my death count to go up to 3..."

While the Z Fighters mumbled amongst each other, Bulma seemed less fearful and argumentative while looking down at the congregation of soldiers. She had been idly wondering how exciting it would be to go and talk to this emperor of the cosmos his friends had informed her so much about. She fancied herself a very persuasive individual. Perhaps she could convince them to leave?

_'It's always the same thing,'_ Bulma thought to herself. _'The guys fight, they lose, they wait for Goku. But Goku's still nowhere to be found, and these idiots are probably gonna die because of that stupid crap. But what if someone convinced these aliens to leave...?'_

She formed a smirk, suddenly feeling very confident.

It was at that moment where Vegeta chose to make a spurning comment towards the Earthlings.

"Well, at least you're all smart enough to realize one thing: these are two monsters beyond all your power. If you Earthlings even think for a second that they should be fought, then you should stand back and let me do it! I don't need foolish weaklings like yourselves in my way!"

"In case you hadn't noticed," Yamcha shot back, "this is our planet, not yours. And we're not gonna stand by while someone tries to do whatever they want with it!"

"Then you'll end up as pathetically as you did when I came here to do exactly that, you fodder!" sneered Vegeta.

"Now listen here!" Yamcha started up, and soon a huge debacle began as the Z Fighters began to spit insults at Vegeta for thinking so little of them.

This was the distraction Bulma believed she required. While the others bickered with Vegeta back and forth, she caught eye of a pathway down the cliff. She would slide down there and negotiate, and no one would get hurt!

_'God, I love how smart I am sometimes...'_

She now tip-toed over to the side of the cliff, noticing a convienient little slope on which to walk down. Grinning all the way, Bulma slipped down and out of view of the Z Fighters while they were too caught up in their debate about power levels.

Down below, the alien ship's boarding ramp had unfolded to reveal the unwanted guests marching into the sunlight. Frieza, King Cold and Nabana made up the front, with a majority of King Cold's men marching behind them in a solid formation. Frieza's face was set with disgust as he observed their landing site, which was very much a subversion of the beautiful blue-and-green orb he had viewed from space.

"Well, my son..." King Cold ventured mildly. "Is this what you were expecting?"

Frieza sniffed apathetically. "Such a barren place..." he replied dryly. "I had expected an engaging paradise, not an uninteresting wasteland. Yet it was possibly mere chance that we landed in such a dull place?"

"Are you OK, Lord Frieza?" asked Nabana, his voice small and meek. "I mean, not that I have the right to confide..."

"If you cannot preform a coherent sentence without your voice quivering," Frieza growled, "I suggest you be silent, lieutenant."

Nabana did not open his mouth again.

"I suppose you are in inner turmoil, son?" King Cold questioned. "Perhaps you require a moment to collect your thoughts before blindly raging at the first thing you lay your eyes upon...?"

Frieza did not reply instantly, having occupied himself with his thoughts. Supporting his organic arm with his robotic one, the younger tyrant placed his hand upon his chin while reminding himself of why he was here. Callous dreams of what he had planned for the planet flowed through his mind, as well as how he would enact his vengeance upon seeing the filthy simian fool who dared to humiliate him. His lips curled into an unnerving smirk.

"I am most certainly well, Father..." Frieza informed his patriarchal figure, turning to face him, Nabana, and the extraterrestrial fighting force they had assembled. "In fact, I am borderline ecstatic about this entire scenario. Our Saiyan quarry has no grasp on what he unleashed when he chose to oppose me. As today, he will witness the enslavement - and should it be brought to it, genocide - of the planet he so sickeningly felt affection for as his home." Marching past his father and Nabana, he addressed his troops. "Men! You are free to show no mercy to any who oppose you on this planet. But your primary objective is to locate any Saiyans, half-breed Saiyans, or any form of sentient lifeforms non-native to this planet. Saiyans are of your utmost importance in this search, particularly one known to clad in orange and blue. Should you discover this Saiyan, report it to me. I will deal with him _myself._"

"YES, SIR!" shouted all of the armored men in response to Frieza's instructions, setting to move out immediately.

But the whole army hadn't taken two steps until at that moment...

"Yoo-hoo~! Hello~!"

Frieza and King Cold whirled around, and all of Frieza's men looked to notice the young woman having appeared before them, attempting to look cute.

And it was at that moment that the rest of the Z Fighters also noticed that Bulma was not where she should be.

"WHAT?!?" Vegeta shouted. "When did the woman get down there?!?"

"No!" Yamcha gasped. "Bulma! What...? What's she thinking?!?"

All of the Z Fighters gawked in terror down the cliff, expect for Piccolo, who had a more grim expression on his face, and Vegeta, whose face was outright rage.

"What did I say?!" Vegeta barked. "That stupid woman had no right coming to a battlefield! Feeble-minded sow!"

"Hey, don't insult Bulma!" Yamcja snapped defensively. "She..."

But then he froze. He couldn't deny that what Bulma was doing now was insanely idiotic, even for her. How could she possibly think she had a chance with these monsters?!

Down below, meanwhile, all the aliens had perplexed eyes trained eyes upon this beautiful woman who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"Nice to meet you, rulers of the universe," Bulma tittered, putting up a coy display. "Name's Bulma, esteemed scientist and smartest woman on the planet!" She pointed at the both of them. "I heard there were a couple of aliens coming here... so you're Frieza, the emperor himself! And you... you must be his father! So nice to meet you both, your Majesties!"

Frieza stared wide-eyed at the foolish girl, while King Cold placed his finger to his mouth as in thought.

"So, boys..." Bulma continued, now starting to put on a flirtatious display by moving her hips in a suggestive manner. "I heard you two are conquerors... you're not looking to destroy my planet, are you? That'd be a shame, because I came here to talk to you peacefully. Maybe I can ask why you're here? Perhaps we can work things out so nothing crazy happens!" She then struck a very alluring pose, one hand behind her back, another on her hip, and one leg in front of the other. "You'll listen to a pretty little thing like me, won't you?" She winked and blushed.

From up on the cliff, the Z Gang had to place their hands on his head. Was she honestly attempting to barter for something?! She knew who these people were supposed to be, and still...

_'Bulma... what is she thinking?!'_ Yamcha groaned in his mind. _'She obviously thinks she can try and sway these guys with her charms, but this is suicide! I always knew that stupidity was gonna end her up in deep crap! Man, where's Goku when you need him?!?'_

Down below, the members of the Frieza Force murmured in question about the newcomer, who had not broken character at least once. Bulma was apparently fearless. King Cold seemed to take in Bulma's words, as he was fixated on her for whatever reason.

Frieza was not impressed.

"What a repulsive creature," he snorted. "Have you no shame?"

Then he raised his finger and pointed it at Bulma! That was enough for Bulma to flinch and put her hands in front of her! The Z Fighters almost left their position, but...

"Now, now, my son..."

Frieza looked to his father, and slowly lowered his hand.

"This one may be something interesting..." King Cold mused, a small smirk forming on his lips. "Search her first, however."

A couple of soldiers marched forward and flanked Bulma, making sure that she had no escape route possible. Not that she would've moved, she was petrified. Nabana also examined her, pressing the reset button on his scouter and scanning her power, all while looking Bulma up and down, as if checking for anything amiss. She thankfully passed the test.

"Scouter readings say she has a measly power level of 2," said the alien lieutenant. "And there are no weapons on her. The Scouter would be able to pick up any concealed weapons."

"Very good, Nabana," King Cold replied, nodding to his second. "Bring her forward."

The two soldiers nudged Bulma forward, and she stopped in front of his massive legs, which were impressively muscular and as thick as tree trunks. Her head came up to his abdomen, which made her gulp as she realized how tiny she was compared to him.

Not to mention the look he was giving her was extremely unsettling.

He had the nastiest smirk imaginable, and was staring down at the small little woman in front of him with a very intrigued - and possibly aroused - look.

"If I may be so bold to say this, madam..." King Cold said deeply, "you are indeed a fine specimen. A rare gem in a somewhat uninteresting universe."

"Wha...?"

Bulma gulped. Was Frieza's father actually hitting on her?

From above, the Z Fighters watched with quiet shock, rooted to where they were as their friend - Yamcha's girlfriend - stood in extremely close proximity to Frieza's father.

"H-Hey! I-I'm not available, you royal ass!" Bulma barked, stammering a bit as she tried to rebuff the king, hoping to disinterest him. "I have a boyfriend!"

"It's not your place to say," Nabana told her, with a rather excited grin. "The king says he wants something, he gets it. Looks like you're his new pet!"

"P... Pet?!" Bulma squeaked as she looked up, wide-eyed, at the king. Then she got angry. "HEY, YOU CAN'T JUST LOOK AT EVERY WOMAN LIKE A PIECE OF MEAT AND TAKE THEM AS SOME CONCUBINE! LEMME GO!"

Those words actually reached the Z Fighters from where they were standing, and all of them (sans Gohan, who was too young to understand) were repulsed and shocked! Yamcha was especially horrified.

"NO!" Yamcha yelled, starting to get up, but Krillin and Tien held him back.

"Yamcha, no!" cried out Krillin, holding him back.

"But Bulma, she's...! He's gonna...! GET OFF!"

Letting out a cry of defiance, he raised his _ki,_ and the aura he gave off knocked Krillin and Tien off of him. They watched him bolt down the cliff.

"Damn it!" cursed Krillin, and he and Tien flew down after him. The others, realizing their cover had been horrifically blown, quickly followed suit. Chiaotzu, Gohan and Piccolo went together, followed by a very reluctant Vegeta.

Their sudden approach set the Scouters of their enemy beeping loudly, as the foreign powers approached.

"My Lords!" cried out Nabana, pointing to the sky. "Incoming!"

King Cold's expression changed from devious glee to frustrated surprise as he looked up to see seven newcomers bounding from behind a cliff to soar on down to their ground level. Frieza also turned attention to the unwanted arrivals. They all landed down about 5 feet away from the Frost Demons and their men, determination in their eyes.

"GUYS!"

Bulma quickly ran past Nabana, who grabbed her arm, only for her to kick him right in the shin. The alien man yelped in pain before hopping back, grabbing his hurt leg. Bulma, meanwhile, jumped into Yamcha's arms.

"I'm sorry!" she whined, shaking her head. "I wasn't thinking, I was so stupid...!"

"Bulma, don't do that again," Yamcha seethed, holding his girlfriend close. "You just scared the ever-living HFIL out of me, I... I thought you were dead."

"Oh?" Frieza sneered at them. "And who would be so bold?"

Yamcha quietly placed Bulma aside, giving her a subtle gesture to get out of harm's way. She wisely ran back to the nearby cliff the Z Fighters had previously used as an observing position, while the others faced off with Frieza himself.

The alien man's eyes roved in-between the opposition before laying his sight upon Gohan. "I recognize you... _brat._" he noted, directing his words particularly at Gohan. "Your father is the reason I look like this."

Gohan gulped down a wad of spit having built up in his throat.

"Moreso..." Frieza continued, acknowledging the presence of Krillin and Piccolo, "it seems the Dragon Balls can bring people back from the dead after all, as I remember with great clarity that I blew you to smithereens." When Krillin made no reply (possibly terrified out of his wits), Frieza moved on. "And you, Namekian... be thankful for your healing factor, otherwise you might have perished from the hole I put in your chest."

Piccolo merely huffed in response. Out of everyone present, he was obviously the one least likely to show any kind of fear.

"And..." Frieza's eyes - both real and artificial - lit up with gleeful malice as he saw Vegeta glaring back at him. "Vegeta," he said, his voice rife with faux affability. "You still refuse to learn any lesson after I brutally took your life?"

"Bastard..." snarled Vegeta as Frieza turned to observe the other three individuals.

"And while I do not recognize your companions," he said mildly, his eyes casually lingering on Yamcha himself before averting, "I am somewhat impressed. I was not aware that such handsome creatures existed in this part of the universe."

Yamcha raised one eyebrow. Was Frieza talking about him?

"But enough of studying who stand in my way," finished Frieza dismissively. "You do not have any delusions that you can beat me, hopefully...? I am only here for the one you call 'Goku.'"

"Well you came at the wrong time," Yamcha informed him. "We haven't seen Goku since your fight with him on Namek."

"Really?" Frieza's lingering smile slowly curled downwards into a displeased scowl. "Then I seem to have come to this planet only for naught. Shame..."

"Not precisely," replied King Cold, causing Frieza to turn and acknowledge his father. "This planet is still a prime target for the Planet Trade. And even if your Saiyan is not here, he will certainly despair at the sight of his planet under invasion, and his friends dead."

Frieza turned back to the Z Fighters, taking time to accept the situation with a shrug. "Oh, well," he conceded. "My vengeance must be delayed, but you will at least have the honor of witnessing a terror greater than Hell itself: my full power." At that, the Z Fighters instantly snapped into combat stances, preparing for the worst, but Frieza merely raised his hand in a dismissive manner. "Now, now," he assured them, though his tone was with a hint of condescension. "It should only come to that if I am to feel it should. You must prove yourself worthy of even attempting to lay your hands on me."

Frieza gave a discreet finger gesture to Nabana that only he saw, and the small alien turned to the red shirts under their command, crying out in a frenzied panic. "Soldiers! Take 'em out! FOR THE EMPIRE!"

Letting out a loud collective cry, the soldiers raised their fists to the sky and prepared to charge, but the Z Fighters stood their ground, ready to lay down their lives in defense of Earth.

"Everyone!" cried out Gohan. "Release your power!"

Yelling loudly, the Z Fighters bunkered down and unleashed all their _ki,_ all of them becoming enshrouded in blazing white auras of power as the men of King Cold charged towards them in a blind barrage. They instantly stopped at their scouters beeping loudly and revealing the full power of the individuals before them. Each of them got a particularly alarming reading each. According to the scouters, Chiaotzu had a power level of 40,000. They read a power of 100,000 referring to Yamcha, and 120,000 on Tien. Krillin was shown with 150,000, while the number of 1,300,000 corresponded to Gohan. Piccolo had risen to 2,400,000 in power, and Vegeta slightly above that with 2,500,000. Taken by surprise, the soldiers quickly stopped in their tracks and gawked. Some soldiers had their scouters blow up from the output of their power, not able to take such readings.

"WASTE THEM ALL!" yelled Vegeta, and the Z Fighters charged while Cold's men were left in a confused panic. Some of them still charged, but the rest stood still while Frieza angrily barked at them from behind them to charge back.

In the end, it was a very one-sided battle, as the Z Fighters had simply spent their entire lives training, where the soldiers serving the Frost Demons were simple lap dogs with no extensive training at all, with their power levels of a about a mere 2,000 being absolutely nothing to the brave warriors of Earth (plus Vegeta).

Gohan was small, but fast, dodging and ducking and weaving between the numerous alien grunts while striking any within reach with crippling blows. The shrieking soldiers were either tossed up into the air or batted into their fellow men. The son of Goku had indeed come a long way from being a scared little boy of 4. At 6 years old, he was on his way to being a perfect fighter.

Krillin was not necessarily as fast as the young half-Saiyan, but certainly more than a match for the aliens, being very much fancied by his friends as the strongest human upon the planet. Evading and blocking countless strikes from the hapless mooks, Krillin countered each time. His blows had so much force into them that some of the enemy soldiers were sent flying into the air! Like the others around him, he fought as if he had no need to resort to _ki_ attacks, All these men were beneath him.

Tien and Chiaotzu were back-to-back, as old friends were supposed to as they faced those attempting to take their planet by force. While being the weakest of the group, even Chiaotzu was not to be toyed with, as he doled out his paralyzing psychokinesis, successfully freezing troops in place before knocking them back. Tien, on the meanwhile, was taking care to gift his opponents with quick, precise strikes that quickly crippled them. His teachings in the Crane School of martial arts - which had originally helped refine him into a potential assassin - had served him very well.

Piccolo was not a man to show any sort of restraint against his adversaries, as evidenced by his brutal treatments of the poor saps trying to attack him. His attack pattern switched between bashing the soldiers before him with unforgiving blows and hitting others with quick-fire bolts of energy, either incapacitating them or killing them. Also remembering to use his elasticity to his advantage, he snaked out his arm like a rope to grab a reptilian soldier and sling him into the path of his allies, knocking them down.

Vegeta was so strong by this point that his blows were killing everyone he hit. While the others were showing some measure of not being too brutal, the Saiyan Prince's lethal force was more than enough to make the unlucky soldiers he hit cough up blood. Each time he lunged out, his fist or his foot broke a bone or ruptured an organ. The man recalled having to hang around fools such as these for years, soldiers who would look down on him for his Saiyan upbringing. And to Vegeta, the act of gruesomely beating everyone in his path to death was catharsis to him.

While balancing his life between training and baseball, Yamcha was not rusty in the slightest. His combat style switched back and forth as he fought, shifting between different styles of combat he had picked up over the years, catching his enemies off-guard as he battered them with ruthless efficiency. All of them crumpled with a single blow, as that was simply how beneath all of them were. Yamcha understood a great deal that he was not the strongest out there, but hell would freeze over before he was considered the weakest and wrongly underestimated.

After a few minutes full of combat, only one man remained, a pitiful humanoid man with fair skin and a shock of blue hair adorned in a peculiarly high crew-cut. Seeing his whole squad felled by the Z Fighters, he stood petrified and left with no wonder as to what he should do next. Even the sight of a few of his comrades getting back up did nothing to stem his fear.

"FISSHI, GET OUTTA THERE!" cried out Nabana, waving his arms in a panic, but Yamcha had already moved forward to administer his signature technique...

"WOLF FANG FIST!"

The man named Fisshi could've sworn he saw the silhouette of a howling wolf in Yamcha's aura before he turned to run for his life, and even then it was all too late. Yamcha proceeded to bombard the man with a combo of rapid clawing strikes intertwined with critically damaging punches, before drawing his hands back and placing them together. His fingers were bent to resemble claws, and placed together they were intended to mimic the biting maw of a wolf. Yamcha exerted a powerful yell before slamming his palms into Fisshi's back, sending him tumbling past Frieza, King Cold and Nabana. He came to a rest underneath the ship, hardly moving.

The fight very much finished, those who had survived their beating began to slink back over to their superiors, bruised and beaten. And possibly too injured to continue fighting. Their superiors watched them limp back behind them, with Frieza pinching the bridge of his nose at his men's failure.

"What a disappointment."

The displeased tyrant pulled his finger back and then pointed forth, shooting a narrow beam of violet power from his fingertip. The laser pierced the chest of a wounded soldier attempting to limp back to his comrades, who fell motionless to the ground. Frieza then crossed his arms and seethed, trading the usually sophisticated and calm demeanor he usually held for an impatient scowl that he rarely used.

"They're just too strong, my lords!" Nabana complained in defense, hoping neither Frieza or his father would dispose of him now.

"It appears that once again," Frieza was seething, "that I must once again stoop to dealing with lowly fools. It is not a task befitting the ruler of the cosmos, but..."

King Cold's hand proceeded to put itself in front of Frieza's path, and said galactic monarch stopped, looking up to see his father lending him a smug grin.

"Now, now, son..." Cold told him. "Perhaps you should stand aside for your father. You wish to save your energy for this Super Saiyan, do you not? I shall deal with these Earth cretins for you."

Frieza looked between the Z Fighters and his patriarchal figure, and snorted, stepping back.

"Very well then, Father Dearest," Frieza huffed haughtily, his grin returning. "Do hope you are not too rusty after spending so long off the front lines..."

Ignoring his son's snide, sarcastic tone, King Cold reached for the buttons that linked his cape to his suit and undid them, releasing them from his collar. He then allowed the cape to flutter to the ground, which Nabana prevented from happening by catching it himself and rolling it up neatly.

"This will be a nostalgic experience for me, Earth warriors," he told the Z Fighters as he approached them. "It has been so long since anyone has amassed such daring to face the empire I once ruled, and I have had to crush such foolish resistance myself. And though I am perhaps rusty, I heavily doubt that any of you will be able to break my skin or damage my flesh."

The Z Fighters felt themselves overcome with a very large amount of terror that they did their best not to show. Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, and Vegeta had faced the full power of this man's son 2 years back and had been powerless. So what real hope did they have against his father, who was arguably more powerful than his son? This was a feeling shared by Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu, who had all heard about Frieza's vast power from King Kai, ruler of the Northern Galaxy. So did they truly have any chance against someone with a power that formidable? Surely not...

Of course, as they doubted themselves, they quickly remembered what it meant if these intrusive beings succeeded and they took over the planet. How the planet would be subject to whatever type of subjugation they had planned. Rule under a totalitarian monarchy. Slavery. Genocide. Whatever they intended, they would do it, and no one would be able to stop it. And waiting for Goku was not an option, as it was very unlikely that he would simple drop out of the sky at any given moment.

No other choice in sight, they re-adjusted themselves in combat stances.

"Very well, then..." King Cold said with disinterest. "I will send you all to your graves if you wish an early death."

With a collective yell, the Z Fighters rushed the villain before them, but King Cold stood as still a statue, his red eyes glinting with a sadistic glee. As they all came at him with a balled-up fist or an outstretched leg, Cold waited until they were in such a minimal distance that it would take unnatural speed to block them all. But the Frost Demon simply let out a booming roar accompanied by a violet burst of energy exploding from his body in a shockwave that sent them all flying back. The brave warriors dug their feet into the ground (except for Chiaotzu, who usually floated, and simply recovered mid-air) as they skidded back, regaining a foothold to charge again.

"A mere warning," King Cold informed them. "But please disregard it at the risk of your own lives."

Yamcha was the first to ignore King Cold's "warning," his fingers bent to imitate claws as he homed in for his Wolf Fang Fist, but King Cold quickly reacted, casually sticking up his leg to grab Yamcha's head with the talon-like toes on his foot. Cold mercilessly brought his foot down to the ground, slamming the desert bandit face-first upon the ground. This was followed by an unceremonious kick, which sent Yamcha rolling across the ground, very limp.

Tien and Chiaotzu were next to try their hand, with Tien's hand drawn back for a deadly chop and Chiaotzu's foot outstretched for a forceful kick. They never landed the hits, as Cold merely dismissed them with a swipe of his tail, which caught Tien in the side and knocked him into Chiaotzu.

As they pitifully tumbled away, Krillin and Gohan went for a tandem strike. Krillin landed a kick to the back of Cold's head with such force that it would've shattered a normal man's skull. At the same time, Gohan charged knee-first into King Cold's back, and it, too, was full of terrifying force. But much to their horror, their hits had no effect on the tyrant. King Cold allowed his attackers to react in fear before he countered; he grabbed Krillin's leg and turned sideways to bash the ex-monk into Gohan. While Gohan sailed backwards, Cold slammed Krillin to the ground and stomped on his back, knocking all the wind out of the latter's lungs with a painful wheeze. It was a miracle that Krillin's back was not shattered instantly.

In order to prevent Krillin suffering more bodily harm, Piccolo rushed in to hit King Cold with a volley of frenzied strikes, which the Frost Demon backed away to dodge. Weaving in-between each of Piccolo's strikes as if the Namekian were in mere slow-motion. Growing impatient, Piccolo charged an orb of golden energy within his right palm and thrust it at his adversary's gut. At this offense, King Cold unexpectedly jumped 7 feet into the air - above Piccolo, as well as the beam of energy that shot forth from the green man's palm - and grasped him by the arm. As the alien monarch took flight for the first time that fight, the massive alien preformed a flip while still grasping Piccolo's arm, and the force of King Cold's pull yanked the arm away from Piccolo's shoulder, messily amputating the limb. As Piccolo yelled out in utmost pain, King Cold discarded the arm - purple blood spewing from the limb - and fired a beam of brilliant magenta from his hand, blasting the Namekian into the side of a cliff.

Last, but not least, came Vegeta. As King Cold turned to him, without bothering to do anything to block, he allowed Vegeta to deliver the strongest uppercut he could muster. The Saiyan's fist perfectly impacted with the Frost Demon's chin, but the latter refused to even budge. Vegeta even felt as if suddenly a couple of his fingers had splintered, and he began to think that maybe they had broken or at least suffered several bone fractures from simply hitting his opponent. Cold smirked and forced his elbow into Vegeta's jaw, and the Saiyan felt as if one or two of his teeth had broken. The he felt a very familiar and uncomfortable feeling as the tyrant's tail snaked around his neck.

"Ah... Prince Vegeta," King Cold observed mockingly. "As the old universal saying is known, 'like father, like son.' And just as your father was so easily beaten, as are you."

Vegeta struggled with the tail coiling around his windpipe, cutting off his life support. He managed to choke out something along the lines of _'Bastard...!'_, but he could only mouth the words.

"There was indeed a time when your race may have mattered," the ex-monarch continued, "but now... you are nothing more than a dying race of pariahs, sentenced to your fate long ago by those superior to you..."

Having no respect in mind for the former prince, King Cold loosened his tail's constriction as he backhanded Vegeta away, and the prince flew backwards and across the ground. The surviving soldiers laughed at Vegeta's inability to do much of anything against Frieza's paternal figure. And upon the ground, Vegeta felt almost as helpless as the day he had died to Frieza on Namek. He still remembered how Frieza subjected him to a long line of torture before choosing to end his life without one shred of emotion or pity. Vegeta very much expected this to happen once again before King Cold chose to finish him.

But as the tyrant slowly advanced on the fallen Saiyan, he was struck in the back by a pair of beams: a Masenko and a Kamehameha, which was no doubt the signal of Gohan and Krillin's resurgence. Though the blast did no use in harming him, it did serve a purpose in diverting his attention from Vegeta.

"Surely," the king spoke casually, "Surely you have more fight in you than resorting to cheap shots...?"

Gohan and Krillin repeated their attacks in a quick-fire version. Not as strong, but intended to hit their target as if to stop what would be his barreling towards them and body-checking them both. But Cold was simply far too fast, moving so speedily that his fist hit Krillin's gut with the force of a missile. The king then slammed his elbow into Krillin's head to knock him to the dirt. Gohan tried to react with another snap-charge Masenko, but Cold had already locked his fingers onto the boy's face. Gohan had not even begun to scream before he felt himself be forcibly sent into the air by Cold's throw. When he came down, Cold ruthlessly axe-handled the half-Saiyan several yards back, and the half-Saiyan child across the ground before sliding to a halt on his front, bruised and beaten. The tyrant lord chuckled at his devious handiwork, before spreading his arms in a bragging manner.

"Come," King Cold bragged. "I demand a challenge! Anyone is free to provide one!"

He _received_ a challenge, indeed, when he felt himself inexplicably freeze in place by an unseen force. His features morphing into one look of confusion before looking behind him to see the tiny, clown-like child from before with his hands outstretched. And suddenly King Cold understood that the tiny denizen was a psychic.

"Tien! Now!"

Chiaotzu's high-pitched cry was directed towards the sky, where a recovered Tien had aligned his fingers into a triangular "tunnel" which he stared through as he focused on his target. King Cold looked up to see the triclops in the sky just in time to hear...

"TRI-BEAM! HAH!"

A golden, diamond-shaped blast of concussive energy descended from Tien's hands towards King Cold, who could not brace himself in time for the blast to come crashing down on his form. Tien let out a shout, and another blast just like the last one crashed down, starting to bore a squarish hole in the ground as Tien repeated the blast several times over.

On the sidelines, King Cold's troops began to clamor in worry at the sight of their leader being pummeled by a human's attack. This provoked the wrath of a very irate Frieza, who tossed a blast of magenta _ki_ at the babbling crowd, causing them to shriek and duck out of the way of the destructive attack's grenade-like radius.

"Fools!" Frieza scolded them. "If you believe such a low-level attack will harm my father - _your superior_ \- then you are even more imbecilic that the scum fighting him! Now enough of your pointless whimpering!"

Frieza turned back to the predicament his father seemed to be in, knowing that what those two Earthlings were up to was pointless. He could see that each time the three-eyed man fired his attack, he seemed to grow exponentially exhausted simply from firing that particular type of blast. And he could only manage a total of ten shots before his little friend called out at him to not over-exert himself.

Tien stopped, and by this point he was sweating immensely. The Tri-Beam, best described as a massive concussive blast consisting of his life force - was a power that drained him immensely. He had actually died from using this attack, killing himself with exhaustion. And now he floated above the perfectly square ditch he had created with his double-edged sword of an attack having weakened him drastically.

And he could still sense King Cold's vast well of power.

He had hardly even been weakened.

_"Dammit..."_

But when he rose out of the crater, King Cold went for Chiaotzu first, thrusting his palm forth to bind Chiaotzu in place with a wave of psychokinetic energy. Chiaotzu was caught off-guard by the unprecedented attack, as he had not anticipated the king using a technique similar to his own. Tien, feeling an immense fear for his friend, cried out Chiaotzu's name and rushed forward, neglecting his own weakened state to try and stop the evil monarch from laying a hand on him. He was quickly dispatched by a lightning-fast kick that left Tien hanging on Cold's massive foot. Meanwhile, Chiaotzu was struggling against Cold's own form of psychokinesis, feebly attempting to escape. The small clown-like boy then felt himself grabbed by the cranium to be tossed into Tien. He literally bounced off Tien's chest like a ping-pong ball, while Tien was knocked off King Cold's foot in a spiral before coming to rest a few yards away from the Frost Demon.

Despite his lack of ability to sense the energy of other individuals, King Cold quickly felt the approach of another challenger from behind. Piccolo had re-joined the fray and had charged one of his signature attacks up: his father's original technique, the Explosive Demon Wave. His plan was to close the distance between himself and Cold, then unload the charged energy beam point-blank on him, as if to vaporize him.

But while such a technique may have worked on an opponent on Piccolo's own level, King Cold perceived the attack before-hand, and ducked underneath the blast, which traveled away and into a cliff, where it shattered the land protrusion to dust. Taking advantage of Piccolo's initial surprise of his attack being dodged, King Cold ran into Piccolo head-first, where he proceeded to _gore_ the Namekian upon his horn like a wild bull!

_"Guh...!"_

As Yamcha finished recovering from King Cold's earlier attack on him, he rose his vision to see the brutal sight of Piccolo impaled on the segmented horn. Sharply jerking his head to the side, he hurled Piccolo off of the sharp, bony protrusion on his head. Piccolo skidded across the harsh, rocky ground, and yet managed to return to his knees. The Namekian was reduced to pained, uneven breathing as he clutched the painful stab wound. When hit with life-threatening injuries as opposed to simple amputations, it took much longer to rejuvenate from usually mortal wounds. Were he human, he would most certainly be dying.

All the Z Fighters lay in heaps around King Cold as he casually brushed a small amount of dirt from his left pauldron.

"Was it too much to ask that I be able to dwindle my boredom through the first battle I have participated in for ages?" he ventured. "Ah, well..."

Yamcha, getting up to his knees, seethed in pain, his whole body aching in a hundred different places as he looked up from his spot on the ground at the tyrannical ex-ruler. His son, the current ruler. The laughing, mocking alien soldiers pointing and laughing at them and their failure to beat their superior. Yamcha forced himself up a bit, his teeth bared and gritted together.

As he had 2 years back, he felt useless. The same way he had felt two years back, when his usual confidence melted away in the wake of the power that the Saiyan brute Nappa displayed. The brutal day of his first death haunted him. And the thought of dying now terrified him more than anything. He had felt the chilling feeling of his conscience forcibly slipping away in his mortal coil, as well as everything seeming to slow down to a grinding halt before it all ended.

He never wanted to go back...

And yet the oncoming revisit to the cold place he experienced before death seemed to loom over him. He knew how it felt. Krillin had once told him that dying the second time was worse than the first. And Yamcha had taken his friend's word for it. But for all his power, it seemed that once again, he and his friends would suffer the same fate as he had on the day of Vegeta and Nappa's arrival. A cruel, preordained ending tailored just for him and the others...

And then some of the last words of his previous conversation with Maron came into his mind.

_"Should I... Should I start preparing for the destruction of Earth, or...?"_

For reasons that he couldn't understand, Yamcha suddenly grew angry. The fact that something so beautiful in this world might be extinguished suddenly drove him to a fury. He was not thinking about his friends anymore. Not Goku. Not Krillin. Not even his girlfriend, or Puar. He was being stirred to action by the possibility that someone as un-involved with their struggle - like Maron - might very well die. That many more like her would suffer accordingly for something they never became entangled with.

His thoughts, however, seemed to focus on Maron alone. Were Yamcha in a fully aware state of mind, he might wonder why. But Yamcha was in a certain feral rage at the moment. Unnoticed to King Cold, his eyes had shrunken, and his canines began to elongate and sharpen. His long, messy hair stood on end, and his nails began to grow and sharpen. And he started to snarl, much like that of his spirit animal's namesake... he sounded almost like a literal wolf.

Then... he sprinted.

On all fours, Yamcha bounded like a rabid animal towards King Cold, rushing up to the tyrant while his back was turned and pouncing into the air with a howl of fury.

"What-? GAAAAAH!"

Yamcha's teeth latched onto King Cold's neck, fiercely digging his teeth into the Frost Demon's neck, and King Cold howled in pain from the unprovoked attack, thrashing and writhing from the immense pain. Those present who saw it - the recovering Z Fighters, Bulma, Frieza, Nabana, the PTO Soldiers - they were all astonished, and yet terrified. What had come over this man that he would suddenly launch himself at his enemy and dig his teeth into him like a wild beast?! Had he gone insane?!

"ARGH...! UNHAND ME... YOU UNCIVILIZED... BEAST!

Flailing about, he managed a punch to the maddened Earthling's face, attempting to loosen his grip. All it did was cause Yamcha to dig deeper into the alien's skin, leaving a small gouge. In response to the blow, Yamcha growled with feral tone and proceeded to knee Cold in the back, and repeated the motion as if looking to snap the Frost Demon's back in half. King Cold was astonished and surprised. It had been centuries since he had felt pain. And this human was providing more of a challenge that Vegeta had offered!

Said Saiyan Prince's eyes were wide at the sight.

_'What?!'_ Vegeta shouted within his mind. _'First Kakarot manages to become the Super Saiyan of legend, and then this happens?! How is the bandit fool surviving this?!'_

Yamcha's girlfriend, who had made her way back up the cliff to hide, was also watching, her blue eyes wide with shock and disbelief. Since when had he even shown such strength?!

_'Has... has he gone crazy?!'_ she asked herself in her thoughts, not able to take her eyes off of the wild bandit.

Letting out an inhuman roar of his own, King Cold charged a purple sphere of energy in his palm, and proceeded to slam the orb into Yamcha's face. The feral man was finally dislodged from Cold's neck, but instead of falling onto his back, he managed to let the punch not throw him off balance; instead, he spun in a perfect corkscrew in the air before sticking an elegant landing on his left leg, then readjusting into a combat stance, hands with bent fingers mimicking claws. Even after taking a blast of energy to the face, he was still in no mood to back down.

King Cold felt the bite marks on his neck, feeling the torn skin as well as a small drip of blood - magenta in hue - oozing from the wound. Seething from the feeling, he turned his gaze towards the long-haired man in the orange Gi, crimson eyes full of contempt.

"Impressive..." King Cold huffed. "I actually felt _pain_ due to your little assault."

Yamcha snarled in response, a malicious smile coming across his face with his sharpened canines displayed.

**"Believe me... you'll feel much more than _that_ once I'm through..."**

The voice was Yamcha's... but it sounded slightly deeper. And it had a menacing growl in it. He sounded gruffer than usual. Adding to his appearance, everyone present was unsettled at least a tad.

"What the...?" Krillin was shivering from his place on the ground. "What's going on with Yamcha?!"

His frightened commentary was left unnoticed as Yamcha returned to all fours, snarling much like... a wolf.

Indeed, he stood on both his arms and his legs and snarled, much like the wild beast he had come to associate with most of his life. Combined with his wilder-than-usual hair and his claw-like nails, he looked like a man who had lived his entire life away from humans, like wolves _had_ gone and raised him. Yamcha appeared as though he had lost most traces of his humanity.

And beyond that...

Vegeta looked offended. Incredulous. _"His energy...!"_ his mind was ranting as he started to get back to standing up straight, the first of the group to do so. _"It's... beyond mine?"_

Piccolo, having finished with his strenuous regeneration to his gut, looked up to see what the commotion was to behold the enraged Yamcha staring down King Cold. Upon sensing the human's ki, he blanched. Not only had his energy signature expanded past Vegeta's maximum, it also felt like... two different energies blended in one?

"What..." Piccolo struggled to say. "What's happening?"

Frieza had a similar inquiry.

"Soldier!" he snapped at Nabana, who shrieked from the start. "What is that man's power level?"

Putting himself together from Frieza's demand, Nabana pressed the 'reset scan' button on the red-lens of the Scouter he wore on the side of his head. Numbers appearing in a language indecipherable by most humans flashed on the screen as the Scouter targeted Yamcha for his level of strength. Due to his Scouter being a very advanced model, it was not susceptible to shattering, so it managed to scan without interruption. In the end, it amassed a scan that forced Nabana to gape.

"Well?" Frieza barked impatiently. "What?! What is it?!"

Nabana turned to his superior, trying to compose himself and not look like a coward, though the façade was not something he could keep up.

"Lord Frieza... he's gone from 100,000 to 80,000,000!"

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER!**

**Yes, I had to do it! Sorry, everyone. But yes, this was very much an excuse to show what the "chilling monarch" was ultimately unable to do in the canon, and show that King Cold is the terrifying badass of a ruler with a reputation to keep, a monster of a man (or alien) who earned his right to become the tyrant Emperor of the Universe before his son came around. Of course, my head-canon is of course that King Cold is slightly stronger than his son. At least, he was during this era, before Frieza discovered the Golden Frost Demon form.**

**Well, if we're gonna be doing power levels, we might as well... a bunch of other fanfictions do it anyways.**

*** Bulma: 2**

*** Planet Trade Organization Soldiers: 2,000**

*** Nabana: 5,000**

*** Chiaotzu: 40,000**

*** Yamcha: 100,000 (80,000,000 now, in this "feral" state)**

*** Tien: 120,000**

*** Krillin: 150,000**

*** Gohan: 1,300,000**

*** Piccolo: 2,400,000**

*** Vegeta: 2,500,000**

*** Mecha Frieza: 165,000,000**

*** King Cold: 180,000,000 (20,000,000 in suppressed state)**

**And there we are. Considering I love this kind of business, I will probably do this for all chapters including fights. I will also possibly include some bios in the future, kind of like LastationLover5000 is doing with their story, _The Erased Chronicles_. I strongly suggest you check that story out as well. I highly recommend it.**

**Also, a big thanks to LL5000 and Demod20 for help with a couple of descriptions in this chapter, as well as Childhood Enigma for help in building the story we have now.**

**Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna take a little break. See you next update!**

**Sky-Kaiser out.**


	6. Chapter V: The Future Reveals Itself

**Sky-Kaiser reporting in once again for another chapter!**

**Now, I was originally going to include the entirety of the fight in the Northern Wastelands in Chapter 4, but I decided that a cliffhanger would go more in line with an anime like Dragon Ball. So I decided to break off with Nabana jaw-dropping at Yamcha's risen power level.**

**But your wait is over, and now we're going to see Yamcha show us something we never knew he had.**

**Also, I'd like to apologize if this is a short chapter. Thanksgiving had me slammed. And Christmas will probably have me in the same situation.**

**Remember, if you like this story, I beg that you rate and review. I love reading people's comments, and I want to know your thoughts on all this. BUT DO NOT FLAME.**

**Speaking of reviews, I think I will take time to answer a couple of comments.**

**"Oscurolight" asked if there was going to be someone with Future Trunks. No, F. Trunks will be alone, like in canon. **

**Also, to answer an anonymous guest's criticism, I am afraid that Gohan will not be romantically involved with Videl. A good deal of different things will take place differently, and that will be one of them. Also, I'm actually not a fan of the G/V relationship, even with its canon marriage status... _(sigh...)_ but I will take your other notes into consideration.**

**Alright! Moving on from that, let's go ahead!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**Chapter 5: The Future Reveals Itself**

* * *

Silence.

That was the response that Frieza graced Nabana with, having heard the alien's declaration on Yamcha's power level. Frieza looked back to the human staring down his father, then back to Nabana.

In a fit of disbelief, Frieza shoved Nabana back and turned back to the two, focusing his one synthetic eye on Yamcha while shutting his organic eye for better focus. The doctors who had replaced his missing body parts had installed a high-quality energy scanner within the replacement eye, allowing him to survey the unsettled desert bandit. Much to a surprise, he received the very same power rating: 80,000,000.

"That's..." Frieza was aghast. "That is almost half my full power... I am calculated around 165,000,000. My father, 180,000,000. But... how can a human almost reach half strength to us?!"

Nabana, still refusing to believe the reading he was getting, tapped the 'reset scan' button on his Scouter repeatedly as if to see if his Scouter wasn't malfunctioning. He even scanned Vegeta and his power level of 2,500,000 to make sure it was working correctly. He got the correct power measurement. He scanned Yamcha again, and of course, he still ended up with 80,000,000.

"That's crazy!" Nabana told Frieza. "The Scouter's fine, but I keep getting the same reading! Dammit, if there's more power besides that, I'll crap myself! We already know these guys can hide their power! What if they're holding back, too?!" Nabana's dialogue quickly descended into terrified babbling. "God, this day's turning into a nightmare! I'm gonna end up just like Cousin Eachpei at Planet Vegeta! And Appule on Namek! What do I...?"

"QUIET, SOLDIER!"

Nabana squealed and flinched, his Scouter almost falling off the side of his head.

"Cowardly imbecile..." Frieza growled. "Even if that human was hiding some sort of unknown power, I doubt that he has more beyond that! We have records of humans from other planets, and they are a weak species. So I deny the possibility this human can go much further than what he already has."

Nabana was not reassured, regardless, and stood back along with the remainder of his force, hoping that they would not have to fight again.

Meanwhile, the Z Fighters decided to take a moment to do a double-take on what they were beholding. They were attempting to comprehend how Yamcha had suddenly grown in terms of power and daringly assaulted King Cold like a wild beast. Krillin kept wiping his eyes as if trying to correct his vision, when in fact it was perfectly fine. And he couldn't simply deny the power he felt radiating off of Yamcha. Never before had any of them seen him like this. And none in the current vicinity had a logical explanation on his state.

However, King Cold had allowed a small smirk to come across his face as he observed his current foe, having been bored with his previous opponents and now being presented with what seemed an actual fight, something not even Vegeta could provide. Lifting his chin and glaring down at his opponent with crimson, remorseless eyes, King Cold made a small huff as he stood ever so casual, as if beckoning Yamcha to come to him.

Yamcha accepted the invitation and let out a roar of displeasure as he sprinted in all-fours at the Frost Demon challenging him. Upon reaching him, he raked his sharpened nails at Cold's face. The alien blocked the attack with his forearm, only for Yamcha to follow up with his foot, which managed to crash into Cold's chin and make him stumble backwards. Yamcha followed up by placing his feet to Cold's chest and kicking off, further knocking the tyrant back. As he recovered, Cold pointed his index finger, where a tiny speck of _ki_ coalesced on the tip. A series of narrow purple beams were fired at Yamcha, who bounded in-between the blasts before closing the distance again, slamming both his palms into Cold's chest and further staggering him.

The former Emperor of the Universe did not take kindly to this sudden combination of attacks, and crouched to the ground as Yamcha bounded towards him like a wolf bearing down on its prey. Cold then sprung upwards to take to the air in a massive jump, attempting to gain ground and find a window to power up as he had been merely toying up to this point. Yamcha missed his mark when Cold jumped, but quickly readjusted and ascended after the reorganizing tyrant. As King Cold made to focus on raising his power to full, Yamcha interrupted next thing, making use of a vicious flipping axe kick that shot the extraterrestrial right back down to the ground. King Cold stopped his descent about a few feet off the ground. The disgruntled alien looked back up at Yamcha, growling in annoyance.

Yamcha gave little time for the Frost Demon to recover, descending towards the ground with a foot aimed for his opponent. Cold propelled himself sideways to avoid Yamcha's booted foot, which slammed into the ground with tremendous force. Rock was sent flying in all directions. But even the missed attack did not slow down the desert bandit down as he reset himself to burst forward and back after Cold. The vicious alien attempted to find a means to counter, clenching his fist to create a field of energy in Yamcha's path. When Yamcha entered the circle of power, King Cold opened his hand as he thrust it to the sky. Suddenly, a tormenting maelstrom of power erupted from the ground, a powerful exploding wave of force that made Yamcha disappear from view...

There was a painful pause as the practical energy mine subsided, and the Z Fighters stared in shock as they saw no sign of Yamcha. Gohan, Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu looked the most aghast, besides the hiding Bulma, who looked absolutely horrified. Had she... had she just witnessed Yamcha die again...?!

Her fear and her disbelief were about to make her let out a desperate, despairing cry of _'YAMCHA!'_ when...

**_BOOM!_**

Faster than anyone could track, Yamcha burst out of the smoking area of effect from King Cold's attack with a deep sound that reflected the power he was exerting. Howling with rage, Yamcha caught King Cold off-guard as he landed a devastating elbow to his jaw, then followed up by raking his nails - now more like claws - across the tyrant's chest, leaving deep, bloody scratches that pierced his breastplate. Were he not the species that he was, King Cold would have most certainly died at that point. It was only thanks to his unique physiology and durability that he did not lose his life.

"AAUGH...! _DAMN_ YOU!"

King Cold reared back his left fist, which was coated in energy as he made to pay the infuriated human back for the grisly wound. Yamcha jumped over the strike, front-flipping to land behind the monarch. Cold reared back his tail and lashed out with it, but Yamcha once again jumped to avoid the tripping blow. Sticking his landing to Cold's back, he grabbed the middle of Cold's tail and dug in his nails before jumping off the alien's back - still clutching the tail - and...

**_SPLORCH!_**

King Cold let out an extended shout of agony as he tripped forwards, the remaining half of his tail bleeding immensely from being torn in half. Cold only managed to land on his knees before taking deep breaths to cope with the terrific pain stinging his rear appendage. It was only because he aimed to play around with Yamcha, but thanks to lowering his power level, he had paid a grievous price.

King Cold's subordinates on the sidelines could hardly believe what they saw. Their great leader - former Emperor of the Universe - he was being put down by what they assumed was a lowly human, but was much more. In a panic, they clamored for their king to get back to his feet, jumping up and down and waving their arms frantically.

"WHAT THE-?!" Nabana was on the verge of losing his mind completely. "NO, I DID _NOT_ JUST SEE THAT! HE CAN'T _DO_ THAT!"

"Father, you fool!" shrieked Frieza incredulously, waving his hands in the air in furious, agitated movements. "Enough toying with him! Are you not holding back?!"

While the reactions of the Frieza Force were negative, Yamcha's dominance in the situation earned positive feedback from his teammates, who were astonished yet optimistic with how Yamcha seemed to be on the verge of triumph.

"Holy... look at that!" Tien remarked with astonishment, rising up to bended knee to see clearly Yamcha's most recent feat. "Yamcha's bringing him down!"

The other members watched from their spot on the ground, beginning to cheer on their rattled comrade.

"Go, Yamcha! That's what I'm talking about!"

"Yeah, that's it, Mister Yamcha!"

"Incredible..."

Though she could not voice her own praises, Bulma's bright blue eyes were big and in awe. Never before had she seen Yamcha do something remotely close to what he was doing now. All the hype that had been built up around the father to the Emperor of the Universe, and Yamcha was dismissing him like he was not even there! Sure, he must not be in a right state of mind, but Bulma, regardless, was wowed.

"Now I just gotta make it up to him after this..." she noted to herself.

Meanwhile, King Cold has returned to his feet, hitched breathing through clenched teeth as he tried to cope with the traumatic loss of half of his tail. He looked back at Yamcha, who tossed the torn tail away and growled at him, his voice still menacingly deep.

**"How's it feel to be knocked off that high-horse of pride, Your Majesty?"**

Again with the snarling voice. Everyone present, minus Frieza and King Cold, remembered why they were unnerved.

King Cold made a deep, surly sound in his throat as a response to Yamcha's taunt, a sound born from agony and rage. Rising to his feet, he acknowledged his adversary with a quiet, shaking tone. That was a danger sign indicating that his composure was starting to fall to pieces.

"My patience is tested," he stated simply. "You have managed to do what very few have accomplished... to actually make me feel pain. To _harm_ me."

Suddenly, the ground cracked beneath the feet of the Frost Demon as he built up a deep yell, his body being immersed in a violet aura of raw _ki_ as his power level rose dramatically. Yamcha stood his ground, returning to all fours as he looked for an opportune moment to strike. He seemed to be awaiting for Cold to reach a certain amount of strength before he resumed his attack.

"Due to your ability to cause me such irritation," King Cold continued, his fist clenching, "I will grant you the honor of seeing the majority of my magnificent power!"

Yamcha actually stayed where he was for duration of Cold's charging sequence, as if waiting for him to show what he had. Likewise, everyone sensed what kind of power Cold was building, and became somewhat unnerved. They knew if it rose much higher, it would slip out of Yamcha's range of strength, and he would surely die...

**"Almost half is all I need."**

Yamcha took off from the ground, cancelling King Cold's rising on power with a merciless scratch to the face, followed by a knee of the gut and a painful left elbow to the top of his head. The sudden combination left King Cold reeling back, yelling loudly from the last strike; a dent had been put in his cranium from Yamcha's elbow. The ex-bandit came at the Frost Demon next with a sphere of _ki_ in his right hand palm and thrust the dangerous gathering of power forth. The _ki_ sphere exploded on contact with the jaw of the monstrous alien, and Cold left the ground again, stopping himself about 8 feet off the ground.

"Enough!" snapped King Cold, pointing his finger; it began to bristle with _ki_. "Your insistence that you are superior to a royal is beginning to leave my patience at a critical low!"

"Yamcha, watch out!" Krillin cried out, reaching his hand out. "He's gonna-!"

But Krillin was left unable to complete his warning out to Yamcha, as a narrow beam darted from Cold's finger yet again, aimed directly for Yamcha's forehead. The nature of the Death Beam was that of an attack too fast to track, and he was hoping this offensive technique would put an end to Yamcha's attempts at winning.

But as luck would have it, Yamcha could see it coming at him. Thanks to his increase in power, he was able to see his opponent's projectile coming at him, whereas his friends would've simply seen the beam materialize and phase through its target. Flipping backwards, which was more of an unnecessary show-off move where he could've simply blocked it with his hand, Yamcha swung his left foot upwards to impact the beam and kick it right back. In a remarkable "return to sender" move, the piercing _ki_ "laser" impaled King Cold's arm, leaving the tyrant shrieking in fury. This human was making a fool of him!

As King Cold turned his focus back to Yamcha, the desert bandit proceeded to appear inches from his face and plant his knuckles into his cheekbone. Still at 45% or so power, the Frost Demon did not take the strike very well and felt a wad of saliva escape his mouth. Yamcha, in a merciless mood, proceeded to pummel his hapless foe. Raking his claws across Cold's body, he aimed to tear him limb from limb. Cold found himself flinching and attempting to hopelessly defend himself from an unrelenting onslaught. His arms were raised in a blocking position, so they took the brunt of Yamcha's sharp nails. They were soon covered in bloody, jagged scratches, as not even the bony cartilage on King Cold's forearms could defend against such brutal slashing.

And then Yamcha's hands began to glow...

**"WOLF FANG FIST!"**

This declaration of the name of his attack was followed by the rapid strikes associated with his unique, barraging rush; these powerful, sharp strikes broke through King Cold's feeble defense and left him at the mercy of (or rather, lack of) the unhinged thief's attack. When this combo concluded, Yamcha put his palms together and pushed them forcefully into Cold's scratched chest. The impact actually created a powerful shockwave that sent King Cold hurtling backwards once again!

Even with that, Yamcha was hardly finished. Putting his index and middle fingers together, he conjured a golden ball of energy orbited by a few small specks of _ki._ This was the Spirit Ball, his signature _ki_ attack; a ball of power literally controlled by his own will. Winding his hand back and then forth, the ball of energy sped at the speed of a bullet towards the mobile - and still not reconstituted - King Cold. The projectile passed Cold, and Yamcha jerked his fingers back.

The ball was tugged backwards and slammed into the former king, stopping his unwilling trip away from his adversary. Then Yamcha swiped his fingers to the right, and the ball came back to hit Cold again. Those watching observed how Yamcha's fingers were pointed at the ball, and how when he flicked his fingers in a different direction, the ball moved that way. He was controlling the sphere of energy to bat Cold around, leaving singing burns from where the Spirit Ball touched him.

Then Yamcha maneuvered the ball to uppercut King Cold right in the chin, and brought the ball right down for one last attack. The ball spiked King Cold down to the ground, catching him and bringing his massive body back to earth. The Frost Demon impacted with the force of a meteor his size hitting the ground, and a detonation of dirt and rock resulted. Cold disappeared in the cloud that was kicked up by his rough landing.

Yamcha observed his work for a second before descending to the ground. Much to his chagrin, he still sensed Cold's presence. He certainly recognized that what he was doing at the moment was nothing more than fooling around. King Cold was still vastly more powerful than him, therefore it would be a tactical decision to attempt to kill him before he tried to power up fully.

With the cloud of debris from where King Cold disappeared from view, Yamcha returned to all-fours. Once he saw King Cold again, he would make short work of him. And then he would do the same to Frieza. As he prepped himself, he heard the cheering of his comrades from behind, but they came to him as an indistinct buzz in the back of his ears and mind. He was not concentrated on them. Cold was his priority.

Now Cold came back into view, disoriented and trying to regain his surroundings. But seeing his objective was all he needed. Sprinting like the wolf inside of him, Yamcha made to end it, his elongated nails glowing with silvery blurs trailing off of them as he made to tear and rend the Frost Demon apart...

**_BAM!_**

...and then there was intervention in the form of King Cold's son.

"NO!"

"YAMCHA!"

"DAMMIT!"

"YOU CHEAT!"

That was the response of the Z Fighters, who had seen Frieza move from his position far too late. Slamming one of his metal feet into the side of Yamcha's head, the long toes of the cybernetic manipulators clamped down and brought him back to the ground. Yamcha thrashed around like a wild animal, attempting to break free and scratching at Frieza's metal legs, but not doing so much of a dent upon them. Frieza responded by stomping on Yamcha's head with the force of a steel hammer. This forced Yamcha's head into the solid rock beneath him and leaving an indentation.

"Perhaps now you have the opportunity to make up for the embarrassment of a display that was, Father?" Frieza muttered aloud to King Cold.

"Do not test me, my son," snarled King Cold in warning. "I have already met enough infuriating circumstances today."

Yamcha continued to fight back as he was pinned to the ground, despite it being a very helpless situation. While he toiled to break free from Frieza's hold, King Cold clenched his fists and hunched his back up, beginning to raise his power beyond Yamcha's capability of managing him. The enraged, prolonged yell of the former ruler echoed through the air as power skyrocketed dramatically. Despite sensing the new gap being created by King Cold ascending past half his power, Yamcha howled and scratched even harder against Frieza. Still no effect.

"You will stay where you are," Frieza spoke in an ordering tone. "You have forced our hand into becoming the cruel taskmasters we are having to be in order to keep you rabble in line."

Not that Yamcha cared to listen. He still berated Frieza's legs with his sharp nails as if to find some kind of chink in his defense. But the half-cybernetic tyrant's metal legs seemed as unbreakable as the rest of his body. It didn't stop Yamcha from trying his damnedest to free himself, ignoring that the one holding him down was not fazed by his scrabbling.

But Frieza reacted to the cry of "TRI-BEAM!" from the sidelines, and was blown back by the impact of Tien Shinhan's signature attack. Frieza dug his mechanized talons into the rock, anchoring him down as he slid back from the blast. Yamcha looked to his side to see Tien with his hands forming a triangle as his reticle, firing another blast guaranteed to impact with the force of a wrecking ball. Again, Frieza was blown back, but not as much as before as he had learned to brace himself. Then Frieza retaliated, raising his hand to the sky and gathering a gleaming, bright yellow power in his hand. Tien hoped to fire a third Tri-Beam before Frieza countered, but the blast came all the same; Frieza placed his open hand in front of him to shoot forth a goldenrod beam, and shortly after Tien actually commenced with firing an additional Tri-Beam... but only when Frieza's "Death Blaster" was a mere foot away from hitting its target. The Tri-Beam _did_ stop the attack, but the force of the blasts colliding sent Tien back. But unlike Frieza, he was sent tumbling away.

Then came Gohan, Krillin and Chiaotzu, but they were coming for Frieza's father rather than Frieza himself. Out of the corner of his organic eye, Frieza saw them and and made ready to deal with them as his placed his index and middle fingers together on his non-synthetic hand. The fingers brimmed with a dangerous kind of energy that hummed unnervingly. Then Frieza swiped his hand in front of him, and an enormous wave of pure psychokinetic energy flashed out in a crescent of dangerous power, slicing into the ground near the three small heroes' feet. The raw energy packed inside of the "Fissure Slash" caused the ground to spontaneously combust; the shockwave knocked Krillin and Chiaotzu to the ground, but Gohan sped past as quickly as possible to get to Cold. Gohan could care less if it would be a fruitless gesture, regardless of how tiny he was compared to King Cold, in both size and strength. And as King Cold watched the half-Saiyan boy approach, he halted his charging process to extend his finger.

A foot planting into the back of the Frost Demon's head stopped the attempt on Gohan's life; Piccolo, doing his best to ignore his still regenerating wounds, managed the blow that set Cold's aim sideways, causing the Death Beam he fired to miss Gohan by a fine margin. The half-Saiyan took the advantage and readied his _ki_ into his hand, charging a spherical version of his Masenko. Hurling the projectile like a baseball, the Masendan crashed into the side of King Cold's head. Piccolo made to add to the damage by slamming his fist into King Cold's back, but Cold lurched backwards with his left forearm crashing into Piccolo's abdomen. Pulling his arm around the stunned Namekian's head, he made to try and snap Piccolo's neck, but Gohan intervened further, creating a new Masendan to blast his alien adversary point-blank.

Gohan's intent was simply to avert King Cold from taking Piccolo's life, as he still understood how hopeless it was trying to hurt the Frost Demon. All he knew was that keeping Piccolo alive was important. In fact, keeping everyone alive was important. Despite the fact that everything seemed to offer no hope as they fought to stay alive, Gohan could care less. It was better than just laying down and dying. And he most certainly would not let Mr. Piccolo perish so quickly, not if he had the power to say otherwise.

Not caring how weak he was in the face of such a monumental foe, Gohan yelled at the top of his lungs as he pitched the Masendan with great force. But the cruel monarch had other plans as he relinquished Piccolo... only to throw him in the path of the blast! But quickly adapting to the new problem, Piccolo pulled an aimless jump so that the Masendan would miss him. Cold had moved accordingly as well, unfortunately. Gohan and Piccolo regrouped and lifted their hands above their heads in tandem.

"Masenko-!" they began to chant, before an invisible force hurled them forward: Frieza had blasted them from behind with a _kiai_ that pushed them right into the charging King Cold, who bull-rushed the before they had time to act. Thankfully, Gohan and Piccolo avoided the horns, but they had to endure the broad pauldrons on King Cold's armor bash into their faces. And that was before they understood that he was gathering energy, as when they did, the king expelled it from his body in a massive explosion with him at the center. The half-Saiyan and the Namekian were blown back without much resistance.

The situation had returned to all the Z Fighters on the ground, defeated and beaten on the ground, while Yamcha himself was still pinned underneath Frieza's metallic leg. He had not ceased attempting to get out from underneath his captor's foot, and was still struggling like an angry animal locked in a cage. The men of the PTO viewing the display were laughing at the pathetic display, and that only prompted Yamcha to scrabble at Frieza's legs with more ferocity. Frieza paid him little mind.

"Perhaps it is cliché of me to touch on this subject," Frieza said casually. "But were you in any state of mind to speak to me, I would suggest that you join our Empire..."

**"BITE. ME."**

Frieza looked down at the afflicted human as if to say something along the lines of 'So you _will _talk to me,' but then he noticed that Yamcha's elongated nails had gotten themselves under Frieza's metal kneecap; Yamcha then pried the steel open, hoping to tear him apart from his legs up! Frieza quickly raised his foot to stomp on Yamcha's head, but the feral man rolled out of the way before the inorganic foot of the tyrant indented a small crater into the ground. Ignoring how close he came to death, Yamcha got to his feet and kicked Frieza in the head before leaving him for King Cold...

...and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bruised but furious Vegeta barreling forward for the same target. A Death Beam shot past Yamcha's shoulder, giving Yamcha the knowledge that Frieza had recovered quickly. Putting it in the back of his mind in favor of shredding King Cold to meaty chunks, he reached the older Frost Demon a half of a second after Vegeta did, raking his claws forth as Vegeta aimed a solid kick at the enemy's knee.

King Cold threw Vegeta off-balance with the stump of half his tail bludgeoning his temple. He used the momentum to spin him towards Yamcha, blocking the claws with his forearm (though he still drew blood). Cold now slipped behind Yamcha - moving extremely fast for someone so big - and shoved his elbow into the back of Yamcha's head. Yamcha yelled in agony as he tripped and collapsed...

**_STOMP!_**

...only to scream more as the tyrant proceeded to stomp on his back! Pressured against the ground, Yamcha felt some of his ribs crack from the horrible impact. Spit shot out of his mouth, and his eyes went wide with pain...

**_"YAMCHA!"_**

...and then he heard Bulma.

Despite the immense danger, Bulma could not have controlled herself. Her boyfriend was being tortured in her line of sight, and she could not keep silent.

And the worst part was that King Cold's men had caught sight of her, as well as Frieza.

"Another one?" Frieza ventured, before addressing two of the men that his father had selected to serve under him. "Take her into custody."

The two PTO grunts that Frieza had spoken to were a humanoid with a bulbous helmet and a cannon installed into his gauntlet. His friend resembled a bipedal crocodile, and had similar armor, except that he had spikes on his helmet, possibly to conceal horns. Saluting Frieza with a "Yes, sir!", they began to soar over to Bulma's location.

From where he could see her, Yamcha watched as Bulma covered her mouth and tried to hide. But already the two troops were flying to where she was, and he was not in the condition to pursue them. Try as he might, however, Yamcha tried to get up, only for King Cold to stomp on his back _again_. Yamcha felt another rib crack as he wheezed out a soundless cry.

A _ki_ blast that almost resembled a fireball struck King Cold from behind. Yamcha moved his head to see Vegeta with his hand outstretched, his palm smoking. King Cold returned the offense simply by thrusting his hand forth. Vegeta was pushed onto his back by an unseen force: an obvious _kiai_. Dismissing him where he lay, King Cold left the beaten Yamcha where he lay to face the defiant Saiyan Prince.

Yamcha could care less for Vegeta, so he turned to see the cliff where Bulma had been standing watch. And much to his dismay and horror, the two soldiers Frieza had sent after Bulma had caught her. She was thrashing and shouting profanities until the crocodile man pointed his plasma cannon at Bulma and threatened her with a retort of his own; something Yamcha really couldn't hear, but it mattered none. The fact was that Bulma was in danger.

**"Let her... go..."**

His voice did not sound as deep and raspy as it had earlier. It seemed as if all traces of his earlier animalistic behavior were beginning to fade. He gritted his teeth, starting to get back up, but with difficulty. He felt as if his snapped ribs were jabbing his lungs, or that they had even punctured them. Either way, he felt it hard to breathe.

His back was turned to King Cold as the latter had performed the same method of torture on him as he had on Yamcha: stomping on him to ensure that his ribs cracked. Pinning him to that exact spot, King Cold created a tiny orb of power upon the tip of his finger.

"Now you will have the honor of dying at the hands of a true king, Prince..." King Cold told him "Be thankful that I will be the one to end your meaningless existence... my son would not be as forgiving as I am."

Vegeta could've wished for the air to spit a final word of defiance at his tormentor, but he was too wounded and out of breath to say anything more. Yamcha heard King Cold speak behind him, however, and knew that Vegeta was preparing to enter the next world once again, perhaps for good. Possibly as damaged as the Prince, Yamcha knew that he would never reach him in time. Even if he _wanted_ to save him, he wouldn't be able to reach him before Cold pierced him with a Death Beam. He could still hear the laughter of King Cold's men in the background at the impending demise of Vegeta...

...then a scream rang out, and it caught everyone's attention.

It came from the direction of Bulma's location.

Bulma's eyes were wide with fright and shock as a steel blade protruded from the humanoid PTO soldier's abdominal area. His friend let out a cry of surprise and pointed his gun, but the blade withdrew itself from the already dead man, and the next thing Bulma knew, the crocodile man's arm came off. He had no time to scream, as the blade - a finely-crafted sword - passed through him and bisected him through the waist. The freed Bulma whirled around to see her rescuer, but by then they had leaped over her head. Bulma feared that her head would come off, and ducked with hands on the top of her head to avoid decapitation. The blow never came, though, and she heard someone landing below the cliff she was on. Opening her eyes, she got back up and looked over the cliff to see that whoever it was who had saved her...

The sword which had cut down the two soldiers was placed back into a red sheath, which was carried by strap on the back of a young man who appeared in his early 20s. The new arrival was clad in a black tank-top covered by a short, indigo jacket that only reached his abdomen... and the Capsule Corp logo was stitched on the left sleeve of the over-wear. His lower body attire consisted of dark grey pants, held in place by a white belt. His feet were clad in a pair of goldenrod boots. A small computerized watch was wrapped around his wrist. He had a head of straight lavender hair that was neatly parted from the top of his head to both sides of his face that reached to his ears. Twin strands of hair draped over his forehead. His eye shape evoked a somewhat stern visage, and his eyes were a brilliant blue.

King Cold was actually distracted enough that he postponed his attempt to kill Vegeta. And both was joined by Gohan, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, Frieza, and the soldiers working for the Frost Demons as he glared directly at the half-machine tyrant out of all of those present.

"So," he said calmly, holding the air of one who thought nothing of slaughtering two men. "You must be Lord Frieza."

**HALLELUJAH, I FINISHED! I'm sorry I took a little longer than I meant to.**

**And I really hate seeing Yamcha get beat the crap out of him, but he's not going to suddenly become a Gary Stu because reasons. I want him to have a meaningful character arc. Still lose a couple of times, but get wins here and there, too.**

**So... power levels.**

*** Mysterious Young Man: 5**

*** Planet Trade Organization Soldiers: 2,000**

*** Nabana: 5,000**

*** Chiaotzu: 40,000**

*** Yamcha: 100,000 (80,000,000 in "feral" state)**

*** Tien: 120,000**

*** Krillin: 150,000**

*** Gohan: 1,300,000**

*** Piccolo: 2,400,000**

*** Vegeta: 2,500,000**

*** Mecha Frieza: 165,000,000**

*** King Cold: 180,000,000 (20,000,000 in suppressed state, 70,000,000 after first attempt to power-up, 120,000,000 after second attempt to power-up)**

**Big thanks to Childhood Enigma for helping me with the story, and thanks to LastationLover5000 for inspiring me to write something I like.**

**Well, see**** you next update, my peeps! Hopefully Christmas won't sideline my interest in writing as much!**

**Sky-Kaiser out.**


	7. Chapter VI: Another Super Saiyan

**Sky-Kaiser here. Ready to take on Chapter 6 of this story.**

**I hope everyone understands that this is a pro-Yamcha fic, but our boy needs a rough start before he starts realizing everything he's capable of. Like I said last chapter, I'm not going to make Yamcha instantly beat someone to emphasize his power because that's bad writing. Yamcha is not going to be a Gary Stu here. He will go through trial and error before eventually getting to that OP point**.

**Now to reply to some people...**

**Werewolf48, glad you're sticking around.**

**Zesatesla123, don't worry. The humans will obtain their own body count and be useful, but please don't tell other people what they should and shouldn't tell me. I welcome any kind of constructive criticism, but don't be rude about it.**

**Paleomario66, to cryptically answer your question, Yamcha is... special in this fic. There is a reason why he gets such a multiplier, and it will be explained in future chapters. I will say, however, that it has something to do with Maron. I can't say anything other than that, but please bear with me.**

**And Jonathan Hannah, I get that you're kinda surprised, but let's be honest. When I started writing power levels, I was going off a Daizhenshū scale regarding the power of everyone during the Future Trunks Saga, and the only way to get Yamcha up there - albeit temporarily - was to have him experience this power-up. And there are reasons why this is happening to him in this one scenario. Hopefully I'll get to the full explanation soon.**

**With _that_ out of the way, let's get to that easily remembered part where a strange boy with a sword proceeds to lay waste to invading aliens****. Things might be a bit different, but it'll be at least similar to what you remember watching.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**Chapter 6: Another Super Saiyan**

* * *

From where he was laying, it was hard for Yamcha to get a proper look at the new arrival; after all, Yamcha was on the ground, and whoever it was he was looking at was about 40 feet across from him. However, he was quite thankful that someone had managed to save his girlfriend when he was in no condition to do anything about it. What left him impressed, though, was that he was speaking to Frieza as if he were an opponent to be easily dealt with. Just the way he spoke his first words at the intergalactic tyrant...

"So. You must be Lord Frieza."

Yamcha heard a body hit the ground, and knew that King Cold had dropped Vegeta in favor of inspecting the young man who had murdered two members of his force. A somewhat vicious part of his mind wished that the villain had taken the time to take Vegeta's life, but he knew that was wrong to wish, even if it was someone like Vegeta.

"Son," King Cold called out to Frieza, raising his voice so that the son a slight distance away would hear him. "Do you know this new arrival? He calls you by name."

"No, Father, this is a new one..." Frieza replied, his red eye and matching photoreceptor narrowing as he began to slowly approach the newcomer, tail swishing back and forth like an agitated cat. "Is there something you want, human?"

"Yes," he replied, calmly standing his ground. "I want you dead. You, your father, and your lackeys."

Bulma had seemed to have neglected the two dead men behind her that the unknown had just cut down to save her. Mostly because she was very much captivated by him. He was a very handsome young man, true, but that was not on Bulma's mind at the present; her focus was on his color of hair. Purple, like her father. Not to mention that he was wearing the Capsule Corp logo on his shoulder, which led Bulma to wonder why he had those things.

It wasn't like he was a member of the Briefs family coming from the future...

Down below, as King Cold moved past the crippled Yamcha and over to his son, King Cold made a derisive snort accompanied by a mocking grin. "A little teenager with a simple sword?" he scoffed, allowing a small, amused sound to be heard from his lips. "Do you hear this nonsense, my son?"

"I do," Frieza answered, waving his hand dismissively. "Does he truly believe that he has a chance of destroying us?" Frieza shook his head, unable to comprehend why a random Earthling of all things had such confidence. "Soldiers... I have full confidence that you are able to dispatch such a pathetic and lowly creature?"

"Sir...?"

It was the cowardly soldier Yamcha had knocked several feet across the ground not long ago. Fisshi had not stopped shaking since his earlier beating.

"With... with all due respect..."

"I sense insubordination," Frieza spat, landing his glare on the man who had spoken out.

"Sir, he just killed two of our best men with nothing but a sword, and you expect us to kill him?!"

"I do!" Frieza snapped, his voice raising to the point where the other men believed that Frieza would crack and slaughter them all themselves. "And if not, I still lack any means of concern on whether you are cut to pieces or not!"

"B-But-! OOF!"

Fisshi's sentence was ended by the oncoming of a larger, more muscular soldier with green, fish-like scales and fins, who had impatiently shoved the cowering man out of the way and onto his knees. In contrast to most of the extraterrestrials that served as "soldiers," he actually appeared as if he was not afraid.

"And there!" said Frieza snidely. "Iru has the right state of mind in that he is not afraid to combat an unknown who used a sneak attack with a conventional weapon; anyone could have done that. And Iru will prove that was no fluke."

"My pleasure, Lord Frieza," chuckled the fish-man named Iru, his large lips curling into a grin. "You people need to stop griping about everything and do your jobs."

The purple-haired man did not seem fazed by the confident grunt, nor did he really seem to care. He just glared at him like he was plotting murder. From where Yamcha could see him, his glare reminded him of someone he hated.

Iru raised his finger to read the man's power level with his scouter. Alien numbers flashed across the colored screen briefly before coming with an extremely simple measurement.

"What... a power level of five?" snorted the fish man, acknowledging the men he served with next. "What did I tell you, cowards?! Nothing to worry about!"

Raising his arm, on which he carried an arm-mounted rifle, he applied his own _ki_ to the device before firing a bright yellow blast of power at the young man. Iru - and most present - kind of expected him to not be able to react and be evaporated by the projected attack. But it seemed not to matter how sure Iru was at the moment because the second the blast was about to hit the boy, the boy raised his hand. With a loud sound that pierced the air like a shotgun firing off, the boy cast the projectile to the side, where it traveled a few miles away and exploded harmlessly on the ground.

Everyone gawked, while Iru stared blankly at the new number on his Scouter...

"...3,800,000?"

That was the last thing he had time to say before the unknown man disappeared, reappeared inches from his face and rammed his fist directly into his cheekbone. The green man had all the spit and taste knocked out of his mouth as he soared backwards and impacted with the side of the ship; he comically slid off the ship's hull and landed on the ground in a crumpled heap.

The Z Fighters were somewhat optimistic after that, but not to the point that they felt rescued from what would be certain death at the hands of the Frost Demons. Indeed, he had killed two men with a power of 2,000 with a mere sword. And he had wrecked an experienced soldier with a single punch. But that was little reassurance when they knew how strong Frieza was.

"That was just a warning," the boy called out, drawing his sword again and pointing it at Frieza. "You want to keep your lives, you'll get off this planet and never come back."

Frieza sneered, his face void of amusement. He snapped his fingers, and Nabana (who was apparently in some kind of mute stupor) started to screech frenzied orders to the remainder of the PTO contingent. "IF YOU DON'T KILL THAT GUY, FRIEZA WILL KILL YOU ALL HIMSELF! NOW GO GET HIM!"

No soldier would ever choose to die by Frieza's hand unless they wished their end to be incomprehensibly agonizing; spurred by this knowledge they blindly rushed the nameless swordsman, fists raised and ready to end his life. Then the man seemed to move so fast that he couldn't be tracked. Raising his sword above his head, he bolted into the crowd. The sounds of a steel blade carving cleanly through flesh were heard as he just seemed to flow through them at inhumane speed. 5 seconds later, he materialized behind the entire group of aliens on his knees with his sword outstretched. All the men of the PTO has stopped moving, seemingly frozen in place from shock. The boy still had his back to the collection of soldiers behind him as he returned to his feet and slowly sheathed his sword, the hilt guard of the weapon locking into place of the scabbard with a loud metallic chink! Then, to the shock of everyone, Frieza's men had geysers of multi-colored blood burst from their bodies, left by great bleeding slashes from the sword. Some fell over instantly. Others tried to stay on their feet, clinging to life, before their lives faded and they lay on the ground in the pool of mixed life essence on the ground. A few even crumpled to the ground missing limbs. The soldier named Fisshi had even had his head removed from his neck: a clean cut from the blade. Out of all of them, only one soldier was still alive: a vaguely humanoid man with ashen skin, white mohawk, bushy mustache, and wide eyes.

Shaking his head and grinning pridefully, the lavender-haired youth turned to Frieza and King Cold, who looked very much annoyed and displeased with what had just transpired. Nabana was besides them, just as much a quivering wreck as the sole soldier who seemed to have been spared the wrath of the boy.

"You should know that I trained for years with this blade," he explained. "It was given to me by a great warrior, and it's helped me in many battles. I even learned how to merely scratch a target with a deadly swing and not cut them in half."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the grunt whom the boy had spared saw his armor crack; them it shattered from the chest up, his pauldrons falling apart and his abs being exposed for everyone to see. The man nervously backed up, putting his hands in front of him as if to defend himself from a future attempt on his life. But it would not be the unknown man's life to take, as he then found himself jabbed from behind by a cybernetic hand; Frieza had run the man through his midsection with his hand, formed into a spear tip and dripping with crimson blood. Shaking violently from the fatal blow, the man turned his head slowly to see his murderer.

"Lord Frieza..." the man implored. "...what the... hell..." His sentence trailed off as red substance leaked from the side of his mouth.

"Failure is unacceptable," Frieza told the mortally wounded man, his voice full of impatience. "I thought I made that very clear." Swiftly withdrawing his hand, he allowed the dead minion to slowly slink to the ground while addressing the unknown once again. "So maybe your sword skills are nothing to be overlooked, young man," he spoke aloud in a provoking tone. "But you will need more than a well-crafted blade to defeat the likes of me."

"I understand completely," the boy replied, still giving off that unflinching grin. "And I already know why you're here on Earth," he added, not skipping a beat. "You're looking for Goku, wishing revenge for what he did against you. You've come here to destroy him after he humiliated you 2 years ago on Namek. But I'm here to cancel that meeting. Or at least try to."

"That is not for you to decide, you upstart hooligan..." Frieza snarled. "And what, pray tell, allows you to believe that you can pose a threat that only the Super Saiyan of legend can?"

King Cold pursed his lips as he noticed Frieza's rising anger. Frieza had always had a bad temper, but this was beyond what he was used to. The mere mention of this 'Goku' person seemed to stir up a great deal of hatred in his son.

"Because," the boy answered Frieza's inquiry with the air of cradling a live bomb, "there's a secret about the Super Saiyan you never learned." He let a few seconds pass to give a tense air before dropping this next statement: "Goku isn't the only one in existence."

This statement seemed to have a profound effect on his audience. Frieza actually leaned his head forward with wide eyes, seemingly floored by such a curious statement. Was this meant to be some kind of statement meant to throw him off? King Cold was equally puzzled, giving a quizzical tilt of the head at the boy's words. Nabana was terrified as usual. The other Z Fighters (from wherever they were laying or sitting) were equally perplexed, having been listening to the exchange and yet left with a blank mind on what this unknown met.

Then the bewilderment on Frieza's face changed into a very condescending grin as he let a slight chuckle with closed lips out. Then he threw his head back, roaring with laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Frieza guffawed, trying to contain his own amusement. "No, forgive me for such an improper outburst... but have you ever heard of the legend of the Super Saiyan?! There is only _one_ in existence, and he is far from this planet! Oh, I hate terrible jokes, but this indeed makes me laugh!"

King Cold decided to smirk as well after having comprehended what Frieza meant. He, too, chuckled lightly. Nabana let out a nervous laugh of his own, not sure as to where he fit in.

The young man, however, seemed to have hoped for the reaction he received. Balling his fists at his side, he let out a yell that began to grow in volume, and a white aura flared to life around him as a burning flame. His voice growing louder, his lavender locks of hair beginning to twitch and stand on end as the power gathering around him grew and grew.

This snapped Frieza out of his fit of laughter to acknowledge the boy powering up. King Cold's smile faded in place of confusion, and Nabana blanched. His strength, it was... it was rising! Frieza recalled back when he fought the Saiyan named Goku, and when he became the Super Saiyan of legend, his power rose just as exponentially. But that was impossible... only that accursed primate could access the form, and he was nowhere to be found. Perhaps he was like the scruffy-haired guy who had torn into his father's neck earlier. Maybe he was just another human that happened to be really strong, but not enough to fully contend with the Emperor of the Universe...

...and then in a flash of light, the aura bled into a beautiful gold as the unknown's screaming rose to a shrill pitch. And with the aura, his neatly-combed hair stood up, pointing up in the air all gleaming and spiky. The pupils in his eyes disappeared, and the blue in his eyes changed to a pure emerald shade. The sight made Frieza gape, his eyes widening in an emotion that he had only felt once before, in the presence of Son Goku.

"Wha... what is...?!" Frieza was reduced to silence almost instantly.

"This... this power...!" King Cold marveled, his mouth slightly agape himself as he comprehended the magnificent power before him.

"Uh...! Uh...!" Nabana seemed to have lost his mind to fear.

With the other Z Fighters, they were as much confused as anyone else, as this was a power that most of them had not seen. But Gohan and Vegeta had seen it once, and they refused to believe such a thing.

"Hey..." Gohan gasped, pointing his finger. "He actually does the same thing Dad did... he's a Super Saiyan!"

_"He's a Super Saiyan!"_

The words rattled Vegeta's skull like a bad noise in his ears. The Saiyan Prince shook his head as he refused to accept the reality, and yet it was there. That purple-haired boy had realized the legend as well.

_'But how?!'_ Vegeta was in the process of trying to wrap his head around such an unbelievable reality. _'I've only seen that power in Kakarot, and the legend only refers to one Super Saiyan... there can't be another! This... this boy... how dare he come out of nowhere and try to mock it!'_

And yet in his anger... another itchy idea rose to the surface of his scrambled brain and stuck.

_'...but... but what if it's real?'_ This one thought instantly burned into Vegeta's mind. _'What if... what if he's half-Saiyan, like Kakarot's brat? Of course, it still raises questions as to where he is from, or if there are more Saiyans I know nothing about... but if he truly is a Super Saiyan, then that means... does it mean... I can also be...?'_

Frieza and King Cold had a very similar track of mind. While King Cold was greatly astounded by what he was beholding in front of him, Frieza's face was a mask of absolute terror. He had only seen the visage of a man with golden hair that seemed to unnaturally stick up in the air like such. And...

"His... his eyes...!" Frieza gasped...

Pure emerald, just like his!

The tyrant was brought back to Earth by the sound of pathetic whimpers, namely Nabana's. Having had enough of his terrified gibbering, Frieza whirled around and kicked him in the gut. All the air escaped Nabana's lungs and he doubled over, coughing uncomfortably. Paying no heed to the state he put the lieutenant in, Frieza shakily acknowledged the newly-revealed Super Saiyan.

"But... but how?!" Frieza raged, spitting his words at the boy as if the volume of his voice would cause discomfort to his ears. "How?! You can't be like... like him!"

"Tough pill to swallow, huh?" the boy mocked, putting his shoulder out. "You thought there was only one person who could rival you in this universe. But it turns out the legend can be discovered by others."

"You... you...!"

King Cold shifted at his son's instability. The sight of his offspring looking near animalistic in his rage at the sight of this young man... the closest he had ever seen his son in such a fury was in the wake of his brother Cooler, whom Frieza hated with a passion. But this... this was beyond common anger. It was a blend of horror and anger, obviously invoked by this... Super Saiyan.

"What's the matter?" the boy continued, his goal being to egg Frieza on. "Afraid? I was told that you were too proud to know what fear is like..."

That drove Frieza over the edge, and the tyrant drew his arm back.

"I... AM NOT... **_AFRAID_ OF YOU!**"

The golden jet of energy that extended from Frieza's hand sailed into the unknown man and impacted successfully, obscuring the man from view with the explosion that resulted. But simply by the man's aura glowing from inside the cloud of energy did Frieza know that he had failed to kill the man.

"Was that all?" the nameless man asked, casually dusting a small amount of dust off his jacket.

This man was obviously preying on Frieza's dwindling reserves of control, because Frieza responded next by pointing his finger at the boy; numerous needle-thin Death Beams streaked out in a violet stream at the Saiyan... and yet he just stood his ground before sticking out his hand. All the beams impacted his palm and left no trace of damage.

"I guess so," the boy concluded. Everything about him told those watching that he simply wasn't impressed by what he saw.

This did not sit well with Frieza, whose left eye was twitching erratically. The memories of the Saiyan who tormented him soon Namek came rushing back to him. Him declaring proudly that he was the Super Saiyan of legend. Repeatedly telling him that he would pay for his callous deeds. Ultimately dismissing him as a threat, claiming that there was no point in fighting anymore. And having the audacity to try and spare him... to pity him... Lord Frieza would not be subject to that kind of hell again.

To affirm his resistance, Frieza let out a shrill cry of rage as he lifted his finger above his head. The man watched, almost uninterested, as a tiny speck of golden _ki_ appeared floating above Frieza's finger. And it began to grow, up to the size of a beach ball. The it expanded to the size of a car, and even beyond that... and as the Z Fighters looked on horrified, a miniature sun - about as big as half the length of King Cold's spaceship - appeared in the sky, casting heat down on those below.

"FRIEZA!" King Cold bellowed, raising his hands up to the sky and waving them about. "MY SON, DO YOU SEEK TO DESTROY THE PLANET?!"

"NO! NO, NO, NO!" Nabana shrieked, quickly hiding behind Cold in a meaningless attempt to keep from being obliterated.

Frieza's state of infuriated mind was too far gone to be reasoned with. Whether he knew or not that his gigantic sun-like orb of raw energy would reduce the Earth to dust, he cared not. He only sought to kill the golden-haired man as quickly as possible.

**"SURVIVE _THIS,_ SUPER SAIYAN!"**

Not even when faced with the possible destruction of the planet did the boy even appear fazed in the slightest as Frieza cast the positively massive Death Ball - a Supernova, to be precise - down to the Earth, aimed to eradicate the man (and everyone nearby) from existence. King Cold shielded his face while Nabana curled up in a ball. The Z Fighters were left immobile from where they were on the ground, gaping wordlessly as the destructive sphere sought to dig deep into the ground. The Supernova landed precisely upon the spot where the youth stood, starting the grueling process of burning into the earth. Only Frieza's unhinged laughter could be heard over the sound of the Supernova sinking down, down, down...

...and then Frieza's laughter stopped as the movement of the sun-like sphere ceased to go any further. Frieza descended back to Earth to see what problem there was, with King Cold glaring at his son.

"What have I told you constantly about self-control, my son?" the father berated. "Have you forgotten that we happen to lay feet upon this planet's soil?!"

"Father, you do not understand! The Super Saiyan-"

But what the Super Saiyan was, King Cold did not have the opportunity to hear about, because at that moment, the Supernova rose from its spot with a great rumbling. Astonishment became paramount the next second: everyone bore witness to the young Saiyan rising out of the crater that the Supernova had previously produced, levitating slightly upwards with the giant ball of power in the palm of his hand.

"I believe you dropped this?" the boy jested.

It was as if he had absolutely no care for his own safety, or that of those around him, but being a Super Saiyan, he had bragging rights. And of course, this pissed Frieza off even more - so much so that he wound his hand back to cast a ball of energy at the Supernova he had created... and this created more of a panic.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" wailed Nabana, this time grabbing King Cold's cape (the one Cold had handed to him earlier) and hiding under it.

"Son, that is enough!" King Cold roared, moving to intervene with what his son looked to do.

But by then it was far too late, as Frieza slung the bright white bolt of power over his father's shoulder and at the Death Ball. The youth tilted his hand a little bit forward to lean the sun-like sphere of energy in front of him, as if to shield him. Whatever purpose this served, it ultimately seemed for naught, as Frieza's additional _ki_ blast detonated the Supernova on impact. The massive blast exploding made everything go white as the violent combustion of the giant Death Ball sent a huge shockwave...

It took about 2 minutes for everyone in the common area to realize that they weren't dead, and the only one not seen flinching was Frieza, his palm still outstretched from releasing that one little blast. Volumes of smoke were billowing from the place where the Supernova exploded, and in the Super Saiyan's place was a very large crater, from which the obscuring clouds poured.

While it seemed that the Saiyan had been erased from existence, King Cold was not in the slightest. Frieza, however, perceived his angry approach and spoke first.

"Before you begin blithering about how I 'almost destroyed this planet,'" he defended, "acknowledge that I removed a genuine threat."

"That was not simply removing a threat, son... that was a blatant overreaction! Be more mindful!

Frieza was not in a mood to be argued with, however, working up the nerve to talk back to his own father.

"YOU DID NOT SEE WHAT THE ONE SAIYAN WHO DID THIS TO ME DID ON NAMEK!" he screeched. "I reacted accordingly to being confronted with someone so strong!"

An argument ensued, and Nabana decided to wisely back a slight distance away from the bickering father and son. Murmuring to himself about how joining the Planet Trade Organization's private army was a poor career choice, his gaze wandered over to the crater made by the Supernova that Frieza has used against the Saiyan. Cautiously touching the "re-scan" button upon his scouter, Nabana was relieved to read no power levels coming from the barren crater.

"Man, why did I join the army?" he lamented. "I don't know how Eachpei and Appule handled it. I can't take this kind of stress." He shook his head. "Oh, well. At least that Saiyan's gone. And..."

Nabana looked over to the fallen Z Fighters. The four humans, a half-Saiyan, a Namekian, and a Saiyan. They looked pathetic, even as they attempted to get off the ground from the savage ordeal they had been put through by the Frost Demons. He thought about calling out to them and mocking them about how wimpy they looked, when he once again noticed the human woman back on top of the cliff, looking down with fearful eyes.

"Eep!"

"Hey, you!" Nabana called out, beginning to take flight, hoping to intercept the defenseless woman when...

"HEY, FRIEZA!"

Was that...?!

Frieza's eyes widened, and he set their eyes on the cliff above them. King Cold also returned to his feet, and Nabana whirled around to the voice's source...

"YOU AGAIN?!"

The young Super Saiyan was standing on the precipice of the cliff from which the Z Fighters had originally observed the unwanted aliens a while back. And he was shifting his arms at an inhuman pace, like he was trying to cast some kind of spell. With a fire in his eyes, the youth followed this arm movement by placing his hands in front of him, forming a diamond shape with his index fingers and thumbs.

"BURNING ATTACK!"

A sphere of what appeared to be composed of both _ki_ and actual flame morphed into existence in front of the boy's hands. With a shout, he shot the blast forward at the three aliens. They jumped at the last second, shooting into the sky as the "Burning Attack" struck the ground and exploded with the force of a small grenade!

"Ha! Idiot!" laughed Nabana. "He missed by a mile!"

He laughed too soon, however. He then heard a battle cry from the young Super Saiyan, and realized it was coming from above. Nabana turned upwards, and his red eyes bulged in terror, as here came down the unknown with his sword raised above his head-!

"OH NO NO NO WAIT-!"

Too late.

In a single swipe, the boy chopped his sword in a violent downward arc that seemed to not even contact Nabana. A few seconds passed with neither the boy or the alien making a move. Then a spurt of dark blue blood burst that ranged from the top of his head to between his legs. Then Nabana's left half seperated from his right, revealing that he had been carved in twain.

With a single swipe, the boy had bifurcated Nabana cleanly.

The young man was not finished, however. Growling, he slashed sideways, cutting through the bisected corpse through the waist. And even there he didn't stop, slashing his blade through the cut-up remains of Nabana until he was nothing more than bloody chunks in mid-air.

And then the boy drew his hand back, then brought it forward to create a _ki_ blast to erase what was left of Nabana from existence. The short-range shotgun blast of an energy wave reduced Nabana's gibs to ash.

Bulma had looked up in time to see the unknown dispose of Nabana, and she was understandably frightened. What if he planned to come after her and the Z Fighters afterwards...?

Frieza and King Cold re-grouped atop the cliff from where the Z Fighters had used it as a vantage point, and the boy warrior landed about 10 feet across from them, flicking the blood off his sword before placing his sword back in his sheath. The aliens were left quiet and skeptical.

_'There's no more doubt within my mind...'_ Frieza confirmed to himself as he watched the unknown with mixed anger and apprehension. _'This young man is a Super Saiyan. But how is it that he had such a strange hue of hair before transforming? No actual Saiyans have a different shade of hair other than pure black... could he be part Earthling?'_

_'This is not the man that Frieza described...'_ King Cold thought to himself, his hand to his chin as he observed their opponent. _'But there is no denying his combat prowess. He is extraordinary. Were he no Saiyan, I might consider recruiting him to our clan...'_

It was obvious, however, that this boy truly despised the Frost Demons enough to never want to join them, which was an understandable thought given they had threatened the life of a mostly uninvolved party.

"I'm going to make sure you pay for threatening that one woman," he growled, sparking up his aura in warning.

"If I may assuage your concerns," King Cold stated slowly, "I did not threaten her in the slightest. She is too precious for such a thing."

"You stay away from her, period," the boy snapped back. "I know what you'd have planned for her. And I'd never let that happen!"

The aliens began to assume that this was possibly a family member of the turquoise-haired woman. But that refused to explain how he was part-Saiyan...

From afar, Yamcha was going through the same thought process, completely bewildered by the young man. Purple hair was something he associated with the Briefs family, and Bulma had once told him that her hair had originally been purple before she dyed it turquoise one day. Was that man a Briefs? But who in the Briefs family would have a relationship with a Saiyan?

Just at that moment, Bulma can running up, looking devastated.

"Yamcha! Yamcha! Oh, Kami, are you alright?!"

"I'm... OK..." Yamcha managed weakly as she reached him, looking into the pockets of her dress.

"The hell you are..." grumbled Bulma, pulling a Dynocap from her dress pocket and pushing the button on it. Tossing it about 3 feet away, it exploded in a puff of smoke. A small bag appeared in its place, likely filled with something. Bulma ran over to the bag, picked it up, and ran back over to Yamcha, pulling a small bean of light-green hue from the bag. "Thanks, Yajirobe..." she whispered to herself.

"Why did... why did you put... a bag of Senzu... in... in a Dynocap...?"

"The bag itself wouldn't fit in my dress," Bulma told him quickly. "Now open up."

Yamcha did so weakly, and Bulma briefly noticed the presence of his longer-than-usual canines before placing the bean in his mouth. Thankfully, Yamcha chewed on his own. Soon he felt the feeling in his body return, and he sat up, shaking his head.

"What was that?" Bulma asked. "You kicked that King Cold guy's ass!"

"I... I don't..." Yamcha was pretty unsure as to what happened himself. "I just remember getting mad..."

"Obviously," Bulma replied. "But... how could you do that? I thought that those two were like, stronger than everyone here..."

"Need a Senzu..." groaned Krillin from behind them, crawling across the ground behind them.

"Tell me later, maybe?" Bulma asked.

"Definitely," said Yamcha, nodding. "Here, let me help you with the beans..."

While Yamcha and Bulma relegated themselves with Senzu duty, the boy had drawn his sword yet again, his teeth grit as he held the weapon above his head.

"You are far too cryptic," growled Frieza. "How do you know about us? What is your purpose here, other than to defeat us?"

"I literally know everything there is to know about you," the boy said menacingly, gripping his sword tight. "Intergalactic tyrants who sell planets for trade. You subjugate entire races to slavery or commit genocide on the races you don't need, like you did with the Saiyans. And now you hunt one of those Saiyans because he humiliated you." He then gave a knowing smirk. "But what if I told you I knew where he was?"

The Frost Demons had earlier been unbelieving of the man's claims that he was a Super Saiyan, but seeing as that was a truth...

"You... know?" Frieza's maniacal glee returned at the thought of simply dealing vengeance upon his greatest adversary invigorated him. "Where? WHERE IS HE?!"

"I'm glad you asked..." the boy said, his following grin looking rather menacing. "Where we're standing... this is the place where he returns to Earth in a space pod from a planet called Yardrat. He should be coming into the Earth's atmosphere about this time."

At this point, Yamcha, Bulma and their friends had fully recovered thanks to the Senzu Beans that Bulma had packed, and they were grouped together at a distance, watching the exchange.

"What did he say?" Tien mumbled in confusion.

"But how?" Piccolo puzzled." How is it that someone can simply know where Goku has been these past years?"

"And how can he be a Saiyan?" added Bulma. "That's a Capsule Corp jacket I remember wearing a long time ago... did he steal it or what?!"

"But Saiyans all have black hair..." Gohan added. "He's got the same hair color of your dad, Bulma! Why does he have purple hair?"

"Maybe he's a hybrid?" Krillin speculated. "Maybe there was a Saiyan who had a kid with an alien with purple hair, or maybe a human? That's the best I can come up with..."

"Whoever he is," Vegeta growled, "I have a bad feeling about him. Is he Super Saiyan or not?! Why doesn't he look like a Saiyan?! What is he _supposed_ to be?!"

_'I need to know!'_ Vegeta's mind groaned in anticipation. _'If he_ is _Super Saiyan, like Kakarot, then does that mean _I _have the potential to become like them?'_

Back with the Saiyan unknown and the Frost Demons, the latter party seemed understandably skeptical. Or rather, King Cold did. Frieza was in a puzzling mood, as if trying to remember where he heard the name of the planet of Yardrat...

"How do you have such ability to predict...?" King Cold was starting to say, but a sound in the sky sidetracked him from continuing.

A twinkling dot in the sky suddenly appeared, accompanied by the roaring of a rocket engine. The Z Fighters, the anonymous Saiyan, and the alien tyrants looked to the sky to see whay appeared to be... an Attack Pod entering the atmosphere?

"Wha...?" Chiaotzu gaped.

"How in the...?" Tien mumbled.

"No way..." Krillin breathed.

"Is it really...?" Bulma gasped.

"It can't be..." Yamcha said doubtfully.

"How could he have known?" Piccolo wondered.

"Is it really..." Vegeta's breathing was hitched as he realized the familiarity of the power level coming from that pod... "Kakarot?!"

"Dad?!" Gohan cried out.

The Attack Pod seemed to be directed towards the cliff where the Z Fighters had originally taken refuge before. Everyone's eyes were focused on it as it came at blinding speed for terra firma...

"Impossible..." King Cold said under his breath.

Frieza roared with an unnerving glee as his greatest nemesis arrived at last. Long had he waited for this moment, and it had finally come. He would finally gain retribution for what he suffered on Namek. At long last, his chance for revenge was finally here.

"Come!" laughed the Emperor of the Universe as the pod drew nearer and nearer. "Come, Saiyan, and face my _vengeance!_"

* * *

**Well, glad that's over! Writing this chapter on my phone was damn challenging, but I'm glad I'm finished with the chapter!**

**Also, yes. Bulma having lavender hair is canon. According to the manga, she always had lavender hair, hence why our mysterious friend (I think we all know who he is) has lavender hair as well. In this universe canon, the reason she has turquoise hair is because she dyed it.**

**It was the best thing I could come up with, I'm sorry! Heh heh...**

**Also, the interaction that Bulma has with King Cold... well, if you know a certain artist who wrote a comic about Bulma being abducted by the PTO, then that's where I decided to get that scene from. I simply added it because I can be really sorry.**

**Don't worry, this is the only time something like this will happen. I promise!**

**Anyways... power levels!**

*** Bulma: 2**

***** **Mysterious Young Man: 5 (suppressed), 3,800,000 (natural), 195,000,000 (Super Saiyan)**

*** Planet Trade Organization Soldiers: 2,000**

*** Nabana: 5,000**

*** Chiaotzu: 40,000**

*** Yamcha: 100,000 (natural), 80,000,000 ("feral" state)**

*** Tien: 120,000**

*** Krillin: 150,000**

*** Gohan: 1,300,000****, 1,700,000 (post-Zenkai after surviving the battle against Cold)**

*** Piccolo: 2,400,000**

*** Vegeta: 2,500,000****, 3,200,000 (post-Zenkai after surviving the battle against Cold)**

*** Mecha Frieza: 165,000,000**

*** King Cold: 180,000,000**

**Anyways... that's all I have for now. Again, sorry for the hiatus. I want to finis****h the next chapter as fast as I can, and hopefully my laptop will be fixed soon. But for now,**** thanks to my co-writer Childhood Enigma for the layout of the story, and thanks to LastationLover5000 for the inspiration!**

**Anyways, tomorrow is my birthday, so... yeah. I'm gonna have some fun.**

**See you next update, which will hopefully be soon!**

**Sky-Kaiser out!**


	8. Chapter VII: Resolution and Revelation

**Sky-Kaiser has got to speed things up!**

**OK... so my laptop is still under maintenance, so I'm gonna try and move things forward with what I have now. And it's time to get through this saga, as I'm going to be getting into this 3-year gap and working on character development between that time.**

**I didn't get as much comments as I did on last chapter because apparently, it doesn't wholly count as an update if I replace a chapter. But I did get some kind words...**

**FreakyFox20, I'm glad you like what you're seeing so far. Stick around, because this is just the beginning.**

**Now let's get down to business.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**Chapter 7: Resolution and Revelation**

* * *

**_BOOM!_**

The Attack Pod crashed upon the top of the blackened cliff, causing the ground underneath it to buckle and crack, forming a sizeable crater within the obsidian ground.

The Z Fighters, the Frost Demons, and the unknown Saiyan watched with full focus on the cloud of minerals that had been kicked up by the Attack Pod's impact. Though it was now obscured from view (due to how the congregation was now below said cliff), they still sensed a familiar power level from where it had landed... only... _bigger?_

The unknown man and the Frost Demons quickly flew up to the cliff to find the pod wedged in the ground, and only then did they realize it was an Attack Pod for special forces. It had a familiar insignia painted on the side...

"Wait a minute..." Frieza murmured. "This is the Attack Pod that belonged to Jeice of the Ginyu Force. I should know, it's the second to smallest one..."

"You informed me that the Ginyu Force was completely dispatched on Namek, correct?" inquired King Cold.

"Yes, Father," Frieza replied, sneering. "So that is how he escaped Namek... certainly more intelligent than he let on, the simian bastard..."

From below the cliff, the Z Fighters looked on with apprehension, unsure how to proceed.

"Well, if it's Dad, we shouldn't worry," said Gohan in a chipper tone. "Let's go see him take those guys down!"

Gohan flew off first, which prompted Piccolo to go after him. Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu quickly went after them as well, as did Vegeta. Yamcha came last, as he had to carry Bulma with him. They landed on the exact opposite of the cliff, too wary to come close to the nameless Saiyan and his adversaries.

The hatch door on the front suddenly swung open. And as everyone had expected, a certain Saiyan clambered out of the pod looking harried. He was dressed in very... foreign attire, consisting of a white shirt with a frilly collar, and two dark blue, sash-like articles with yellow lining upon his chest and around his waist. He also wore baggy, crimson pants and boots that matched his sashes.

"Guys!" cried out Son Goku as he jumped out of the pod in a hurry. "Guys, Frieza's here, and he-!"

He trailed off at the sight of the very alien he had just mentioned staring at him. Accompanying him was the towering form of King Cold, observing him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," said Goku, making a slight chuckle. "I guess I spoke too soon..."

From behind him - Goku probably had noticed them due to power levels, but was focused on the aliens - the Z Fighters watched with bated breath. It was certainly Goku, but stronger than before... apparently 2 years in space had certainly done favors for his strength, but would it be enough?

But the Z Fighters were more focused on the fact that Goku had _returned._ After being gone for longer than they would've wanted, he had finally come back.

"DAD!" cried out Gohan, instantly bolting forward to hug his dad.

Krillin, Yamcha, Bulma and Chiaotzu were next to meet up with him, and Tien and Piccolo made up the rear. Vegeta was the only one who stayed behind, not being one for heartfelt greetings.

"Huh? Gohan?!" Goku reacted in surprise as Gohan instantly leaped into his long-lost father's arms, on the verge of crying.

"Dad...!" Gohan cried, trying to fight the tears. "Dad, you came back...!"

"Gohan, you're here!" exclaimed Goku, returning the hug his son had given him, somewhat thrown off that his only child was here... and then he saw his other friends rushing towards him. "You're all here?"

"Hell yeah, we are!" said Yamcha, voice filled with relief. "Two years of you gone was enough!"

"We can't tell you how good it is to have you back, man," Krillin told him, almost overwhelmed by emotion.

"Where were you all this time?" Bulma inquired.

"Please don't go away again!" pleaded Chiaotzu.

"Don't worry, you guys..." Goku chuckled. "I'm here now... and I'm not leaving again..."

"You better not," said Tien, reaching the group. "Everyone was worried sick about you after all this time."

"You have a lot of explaining to do regarding how it took 2 years for you to return," added Piccolo.

"Well, I'll be glad to tell the story!" Goku chuckled. "I just hope Chi-Chi isn't too mad with me about it..."

"Oh, Mom has to be furious with you..." Gohan told him, still trying to keep ahold of his emotions as he embraced his dad. "But you're here... that's all I care about!"

"I'm sorry, son..." Goku told him, now taking time to return the embrace.

"Yes, take time to reunite with your loved ones, monkey!" called a snide voice. "It is the last you will ever see of them before you are reunited with them in Hell."

_'Frieza...'_

Goku's contentment faded as he remembered that two hostile aliens were nearby, one hell-bent on killing him, and the other without a doubt here on the former's behest.

"Stay back, everyone..." Goku told his friends quietly, as he let go of Gohan and looked to stand up. "I'm gonna handle Frieza by myself..."

"Maybe I can assist..."

Goku got up to see the Saiyan from before, having fallen out of his own Super Saiyan state.

"I don't think we've met..." Goku said affably.

"We haven't," replied the teen.

"Dad..." Gohan said aloud to his father. "He can go Super Saiyan like you! He was just toying with Frieza and his father a minute ago!"

"Whoa, really?" Goku looked back to his son in surprise before turning to the youth with a strange excitement. "So you were the strange power I sensed? Huh! I sensed a power defending my friends, but I didn't expect another Saiyan! And you... have the same power I do?!"

"I was looking to kill them," the unknown told them, glaring over at the Frost Demons. "But they had a lot of help, and Frieza nearly destroyed the planet. Not to mention they endangered your friends..."

"It's true!" Bulma piped up. "They even tried to kidnap me! I... I don't even wanna know what they had planned for me, but this man... he saved my life..."

"And that's all I need to hear."

Goku's kind voice had faded. Now his caring demeanor was gone, replaced by a very serious and unamused glare over at Frieza and his father. He turned to the unknown Saiyan.

"Can I trust you to help me out with this?" he asked.

"Yeah, can we?" added in Yamcha. "I mean, we don't even know this man..."

"It's fine," the Saiyan answered, looking over to the Z Fighters, Yamcha in general. "Part of the reason I came here was to stop Frieza from killing you all." His eyes returned to Goku. "That... and I came here because I need to talk to you personally, Son Goku."

"Then we'll make this quick," said Goku, nodding. "Obviously, Frieza will never learn right from wrong, no matter how many times I try to spare him... so I guess we'll just have to take him out for good."

"I'll be happy to help," the unknown said in agreement.

Side-by-side, the two Saiyans marched forward towards their adversaries. One was very much impatient, his metal tail swaying back and forth and his eyes narrowed. The other more reserved, hand on his chin and tail still.

"Son, this is..." King Cold began.

"Yes, Father... this is he," Frieza answered, teeth grit. "That imbecile is the one that dared to humiliate me."

"He appears... familiar," Cold mused.

"I am aware," Frieza agreed. "He bares a painstaking resemblance to another Saiyan... one that had the gall to stand up to me when I was about to wipe his filthy race from history..."

"You mean when you destroyed Planet Vegeta..." Goku spoke up. "I wasn't able to keep the promise I made when I said I'd make you pay for all the lives you destroyed. Obviously, reducing you to... whatever the hell you are now..." - He made an obscure gesture to Frieza's mechanical parts - "...wasn't enough."

"And because you lacked the ability to finish me off," snarled Frieza, "I will have the pleasure of reducing you to mere atoms for your offense!"

"Wrong, Frieza..." Goku growled back, taking a step forward and flaring his aura dangerously. The simply outburst of power actually caused both Frieza and his father to step back! "I've had it up to here with you... your refusal to see the error of your ways... your indifference towards the people you've killed... and the mere fact that you brought the fight home to Earth. You've already gone too far, Frieza... NO FURTHER!"

With a resounding cry to the sky, Goku's power rose to astounding heights, reaching a climax with a burst of golden light. Goku's hair stood on end, gleaming golden as his eyes turned a brilliant emerald. Besides him, the teenager had snap-changed into his own Super Saiyan form once again, and both were cloaked in golden energy that manifested around them like a beautiful, golden flame.

"What happened on Namek will not repeat itself, you dirty little monkey!" spat Frieza, the veins in his head throbbing. He too began to draw from his deepest wells of power, absolutely desperate to have any means to run the Saiyan in front of him down with his power.

Yet...

Frieza's synthetic eye was giving him alarming readings. He had neglected them earlier, but now he was paying attention to the rising numbers on the HUD in that one eye..

Frieza had 165,000,000.

The Saiyan who wounded his pride... 200,000,000.

_'No...'_ Frieza shook his head. _'No, deny the readings! They are moot! I am stronger than him! I will not be seconded again by his nonsense...!'_

But the more he looked at their power levels, the less sure of himself he felt... so he chose precaution over throwing all his power out at once...

"Father!" Frieza called out to King Cold, who seemed to snap out of a trance to acknowledge his son; he was apparently captivated by the golden aura. "That one is mine! He must die by my hand alone!"

"Then this will be an enjoyable experience," King Cold mused, smirking. "It is only a pity that your brother will not be here to witness the death of the legend."

"Hmph..." Frieza sniffed. "Whether he is here or not to see history be etched into time, it matters not. This is the end of the Saiyan ra-!"

**_BAM!_**

And suddenly, Goku was there, his fist having sunk deep into Frieza's gut. His expression was the same one that he had once given the tyrant when he had crushed his hand.

Before Frieza could even retaliate, Goku removed his fist and jumped onto his hands to kick Frieza into the air with both of his feet! As Frieza flew into the air, yelling in surprise, Goku flipped and took off after Frieza at a frightening speed. He no longer sought to grant mercy to Frieza; he'd already tried to on Namek, twice. Now he looked to kill the Frost Demon with his bare hands.

"Frieza!" King Cold yelled after his son, watching with surprise as the newcomer proceeded to assault Frieza with a series of lightning-fast strikes. He would ensure that Frieza was not left one opening! Cold made to assist his son, but it was them that the other Saiyan, the one with the sword, stood in his way.

"You should be more concerned with me," the young Saiyan growled as he unsheathed his sword yet again.

King Cold grit his teeth as he knelt down on his left knee, hand on the ground in front of him before launching himself at the unknown...

The nameless Saiyan sidestepped an oncoming punch from King Cold, his massive fist almost catching his nose. The Saiyan youth slashed at the massive tyrant, who turned around while making enough distance so that the sword did not touch him. His cut tail proceeded to strike the boy's arm, dislodging the blade from his hand and causing it to land at the edge of the cliff. Cold now looked to take advantage of the boy's surprise, whirling around with a kick to the young man's chest, who had to raise his forearms to block the huge leg's impact. The force of the strike made the Saiyan slide back to the cliff's edge, where his sword lay.

The unknown took an annoyed exhalation as he uncrossed his arms and noticed his sword next to his foot. He reached for it, yet he had no sooner outstretched his hand than King Cold had closed the distance: he slammed the brunt of his shoulder into the Saiyan, who blocked yet again and engaged him in a lightning-fast melee as they took to the skies, the sword now forgotten.

As the youth and the former tyrant engaged in fierce melee, the combat pairing of Goku and Frieza were revisiting their earth-shaking battle 2 years ago. Back then, their catastrophic battle led to the destruction of Namek. But now they fought on the home turf of one party. And said party was not pleased in the slightest that his adversary had dared to threaten his home.

"You cannot fathom how much I've anticipated this re-match, Saiyan," Frieza spat as he exchanged powerful blows with whom he now considered his arch-nemesis. "The fact that you would even have the _gall_ to humiliate me... tricking me into being hit by my own attack... _sparing_ me... it was beyond anything I could've tolerated in 1,000 lifespans! No more! I will rend your head from your shoulders... then I will skin your disgusting ape-ish hide and place your skull on a silver platter!"

"Wrong, Frieza!" shouted back Goku as he caught a punch from Frieza's synthetic arm, holding him back. "I'm not letting you hurt one more soul!"

Dragging Frieza by his hand into one of his punches, Goku sent Frieza sailing back. The irate Frost Demon landed on the ground beneath the cliff, skidding to a halt and leaving tracks in the ground... and he looked up just to see a boot-clad foot slamming into his jaw. Goku drove Frieza's head into the ground with his foot, taking hold of the tyrant's arms as he held him down.

"I wanted to give you a chance to change your ways," Goku seethed, applying more strength to his pull as he seemed to want to pull his arms out of his sockets! "I tried showing you mercy... _twice!_ I gave you my energy and you _still_ tried to shoot me in the back! I was hoping that if you survived, you'd have taken something from it... but now it's clear to me that all you'll ever care about and delight in is causing misery to others. That's finished as of now! This time, I'm sending you to Hell!"

Then, with a resounding yell, he placed both of his feet to Frieza's back, still grasping the alien's arms. Then there was the sound of metal and wires coming apart as the force of Goku's pull tore Frieza's metal arm apart! Frieza's shriek of agony could be heard from a mile as a bloody stump was left in place of the metallic appendage.

His organic arm stayed on his body, however, still being gripped by Goku. The Saiyan used the momentum of his tearing the other arm off to twirl on his heel sideways, and spin Frieza around in a violent throw. Goku directed his foe into the air, causing the Frost Demon to spiral into the air as he attempted to regain his bearings. Goku, simply being too fast to let Frieza recover, bolted into the air above him and somersaulted in mid-air before clasping his hands together and slamming them into Frieza's back, spiking him down towards the ground.

The evil Emperor of the Universe twisted his body as he fell to the ground so that his feet would meet the rocky terrain first. Hitting the ground, the ground buckled into a small, circular indent around him.

"How dare that ape attempt to dictate my fate yet again...!" Frieza growled, trying to ignore the loss of his metal arm. "He will die for this... he _must... die...!_"

Leaping off the ground, Frieza screeched like a banshee as he took towards the Super Saiyan with killing intent!

The Frost Demon closed the distance between himself and his foe, readying a violet orb of energy that he proceeded to thrust at Goku's face! Goku blocked the blast with his hand, but it still exploded in his face, and he was unprepared for Frieza's tail coiling around his neck.

Pulling the restrained Goku towards him, Frieza used his only arm left to uppercut the Saiyan directly in his chin. Goku, not to be outdone, however, caught Frieza's following elbow and lowered it, using the small window of time to headbutt Frieza hard enough that some of his metal parts noticeably shook, as if giving in to damage!

While Goku seemed to have already won his fight with Frieza, the battle between the nameless youth and King Cold was still very much even. This changed as King Cold managed to strike a precise knee to the jaw of the young man, and then he grasped the boy's neck, looking to choke the life out of him.

"This has been an entertaining experience," King Cold informed him as he began to apply more pressure to the Saiyan's neck. "But now I grow weary of these games."

But the youth would not be outdone. His power surged, and he forced himself downward, taking King Cold with him! The tyrant kept his grip on the Saiyan's neck, even as they slammed into the ground, but then something besides rubble entered the air, and it was the sword that had apparently been abandoned! The youth grasped the blade and projected it at King Cold's horns!

**_KACHINK!_**

**"****ARRRRGH!****"**

The young Saiyan watched as the sharp tips of King Cold's angled horns slid off, leaving him without his most striking feature! The teen chuckled before advancing on King Cold yet again and skidding to his side before leaping off the ground to kick the reeling king to the side, before flying over to retrieve his sword.

Sheathing the blade, the unknown smirked as King Cold returned to his feet yet again, his temple bleeding from the kick, which placed an indent in the cartilage of his skull. His mouth bled, and he was also missing a tooth in the back of his mouth, which he spat out. He grit the remainder of his teeth menacingly.

"You ignorant... how _dare_ you deface me!"

"Take my breath, I take your horns..." the youth seethed, his patience obviously running thin.

The enraged King Cold now raised his palm, bending the fingers into a fist as he conjured something within his palm. From within his fisted hand gleamed purple energy. Then he raised his hand, a sphere of power growing bigger and bigger, until it reached the size of a volleyball. Roaring, King Cold moved his hand to align with the distance between him and the youth, and the energy sphere exploded into a magenta beam, rocketing for the Saiyan's face!

"HAAAH!"

The unknown rushed at the blast, proceeding to impact it with his palm! The beam came back at King Cold, who moved sideways to avoid it, ensuring that it would sail harmlessly into a cliff a few miles away, blasting off a section of rock.

When the tyrant turned back, his chin was met by the youth's leg, sending him on his back sliding across the ground and kicking up granulated dust.

Meanwhile, Goku found himself still faced with something of a challenge against Frieza, despite the tyrant being literally disarmed. Slowly he was dismantling Frieza little by little, and Frieza struggled to keep up, desperately attempting to inflict any measure of pain he could against his Saiyan foe.

Even so, Frieza was still getting some shots in. Resolving to fight with his legs instead of his hands (a method he had once used as a method of toying with Goku during their first fight), he now looked to use such an unorthodox approach to defend against Goku's onslaught.

Down one arm, and Frieza was still fueled by hatred. His metal foot brutally impacted with Goku's skull at one point, while his tail followed up that kick to bash him in the back of the skull!

"Your mere existence vexes me," snarled Frieza. "I thought I told you on Namek that mercy is meaningless if your foe benefits from it. Your gall to show mercy to me... I don't require it, nor do I need your pity!"

Another kick, this time to the ribs, made Goku flinch. But he could only anger his enemy for so long.

"You wouldn't be on Earth if it weren't for me, Frieza...!"

With that statement, Goku's palm slammed into Frieza's mid-section, rattling the armored plating grafted into his skin!

"Gah-!"

"In fact, if it weren't for me," Goku continued, "my friends - everyone on Earth - they might've died because I was stupid enough to think you'd change!"

Clasping his fists together, Goku sledgehammered Frieza in the temple - just underneath his photoreceptor eye - with his joined fists, sending him back, and then Goku burst forward with a kick that left an imprint in Frieza's gut, just underneath his ribcage!

"Guh...!"

A wad of purple blood rose from Frieza's throat, and out of his mouth as the kick forced his own life essence out of him; the attack must have ruptured several vital organs. Due to his Frost Demon anatomy, he could certainly survive for long amounts of time with these injuries until they slowly healed. But this would not mean he would surely be left with searing injuries should he survive this...

But Goku was set on ensuring Frieza's death. Flipping above Frieza as the alien reeled from his past strike, Goku kneed him directly in the synthetic eye. The glass shattered, leaving him once again without two eyes. Screaming from his vision lost half-way yet again, Frieza was unable to defend as Goku grabbed his metal tail and started to tug him around in a circle!

This was an all-too-familiar scenario from Frieza, who had also been subject to been grabbed by his tail and flung around like such...

"LEEEEEEEEEEET GOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Goku obliged, but not before aiming him at the ground. Goku released his grip, sending the tyrant in the earth-bound direction. With a resounding crash, Frieza was slammed into yet another crater made by his dangerous contact with the ground.

Back to the teenage Saiyan, who stood over the battered King Cold, he stood over his opponent with a piercing glare. King Cold slowly managed to stand back up, wiping some blood from his mouth. Then he smirked.

"How interesting..." King Cold mused. "Obviously, Frieza's story of the Super Saiyan was very much accurate, given your astounding strength. You impress me."

The youth stood silent.

"Never in the many centuries I have lived, have I encountered such a fierce warrior," King Cold continued. "In fact, I see how it was a mistake for my son to oppress your people. I saw your value, whereas he did not. In fact... I see enough potential in you to join our clan."

He outstretched his hand with a respectful smile.

"Ignoring my son's constant rants on your species, you have what is necessary to rule the galaxy amongst the universe's most powerful. Imagine such a life. A baron with his own small section of the universe, with countless, beautiful planets in your care. You could be so much more than you are now."

The unknown huffed indifferently.

"Even if I wasn't focused on killing you," the boy stated, "that still sounds pretty lame."

King Cold's smile faltered slightly, but it was now more an angered smile, as if now having resolved to kill the man in front of him.

"So you reject my offer? Shame..."

His hand stayed outstretched, however, as he bent his fingers to imply that he wanted something from him.

"Well, seeing as we are no longer locked in mortal combat," he said, "perhaps I could respectfully inquire to have a look at your sword? It must surely be a piece of exceptional craftsmanship, for how else could it cut through my most elite soldiers and not be cracked or even dulled?" He bent his fingers again. "Might I... inspect it?"

The young swordsman did not instantly respond.

"Come now," said King Cold in a semi-friendly tone. "You are not afraid of being free of your weapon, are you?"

The boy stared, narrowing his eyes as if expecting deceit. Then he released the Super Saiyan form and unsheathed the blade. Idly, he tossed it to King Cold, who caught the sword by its hilt and inspected it quietly.

"As I suspected," King Cold concluded, his tone indicating that he was further impressed. "This weapon was most certainly forged by a master, and it has incredible sharp edge and build." He looked back to the sword's owner. "However, I believe the only plausible explanation on how you so easily felled my men was that you had this sword on hand."

"Is that what you think?" inquired the boy, now expecting the tyrant to use the blade against him. He would be right.

"Indeed," replied King Cold, an evil grin curling his features as he clasped the hilt in a two-handed grip. "It all adds up. Truly, without this sword in your hand... you're _nothing._"

Then the tyrant, despite all his wounds, raised the sword above his head to bring the sword down on the youth's head...

...only for the boy to catch the blade in-between his index finger and his thumb The tyrant's eyes widened in shock as his attack failed to do what he had intended, as the boy's hair flashed gold yet again.

"Please," the boy huffed, giving a prideful smirk. "I only carry this sword around because I got good with it. But there's an old proverb... 'a weapon doesn't make a man.'"

And with his free hand, he placed it to King Cold's exposed chest, and the palm began to glow gold!

"WAIT! NO! DON'T-!"

But he had begged far too late, as the youth projected from his hand a blast of golden energy that burned through King Cold's chest, knocking him backwards! Letting out a strangled cry of pain, the tyrant flew backwards towards the opposing cliff, slamming into it and sliding down to the foot of the cliff, a trail of dark purple blood streaking down the side as he hit the ground.

The teen stayed where he was, hand still outstretched as the father of Frieza moved feebly, having no more strength to return to his feet. He looked up at the Saiyan who defeated him, and fear was in the former monarch's eyes.

"Wait...!" King Cold rasped. "No, please spare me...! Ahhhh, mercy...! I... I surrender... I can no longer fight...! I am defeated...!"

The teen was still glaring into his soul with those pupil-less emerald eyes, which scared the dying alien even more.

"Please...!" King Cold gurgled, blood pouring from his mouth. "I beg of you... if you let me live, I... I will relinquish one of my... finest planets to you! In fact... I will even... allow you an entire... solar system... no?"

No response. King Cold raised his hand weakly in defense, though it was hopeless.

"If... if you want..." King Cold's voice was building with desperation, fearing the boy's response. "I'll leave... I'll change my wicked ways... convince my son to do the same! I'll give my word that-!"

Another blast came from the young man's hand as he begged on. King Cold only had enough time to scream for his life before the blast tore him to pieces, blowing him into hundreds of gory chunks, mixed with the fragments of his cartilage, horns, armor, and large quantities of blood and fluid.

"You'd never change," the boy growled, placing his sword within his sheath.

With one battle over, another battle was drawing to a close as a beaten, battered Frieza rose out of the crater, having heard his father beg for mercy before being silenced. And up above him, Goku was staring at him. The same damned emerald eyes that drove him insane...

"I gave you a chance, Frieza..." Goku breathed as he pulled his left hand back. "You wasted it... you _fool_."

And his hand glowed gold. He looked to kill Frieza with the same attack he used when he tried to take his life last time: the Angry Kamehameha.

"Kaaaa... meeee... haaaa... meeee..."

Recognizing this attack, Frieza pulled his remaining hand back, as it glowed with scarlet energy seething around his fist...!

"I... I WILL _NEVER_ LOSE TO YOU!" screamed Frieza, his composure so broken that it could never be healed. "THIS TIME, YOU WRETCHED _FILTH..._ YOU WILL _PERISH!_ BY MY HAND ALONE!"

And he thrust forth his arm, causing a jet of blood-red power to surge forth, hoping to wipe Goku away once and all...

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

...only to watch as, in a repeat of their previous fight, Goku's one-handed blast of rage pushed his beam back, and Frieza had no power to move as he was once again swallowed in _ki,_ being slowly disintegrated by the massive beam.

"**_DAMN YOU, GOKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!_**"

The last words of the Frost Demon, the vanquisher of the Saiyan Race, murderer of so many, destroyer of countless people across the universe... they echoed across the Northern Wastelands as the last particle of his matter was incinerated...

Silence followed.

Goku floated over the spot where a massive crater now lay in the blackened rock, plumes of smoke billowing into the air. The Saiyan breathed out, closing his eyes and looking away. Despite all that Frieza had done in life, Goku had not wished to take a life. And yet this was the extremity he had been cornered into because of his now deceased foe.

Another explosion followed behind Goku, and he turned around to see the mystery Saiyan blasting a hole in the alien spaceship. It combusted from its fuel supply catching fire, and it was soon obliterated, decomposing into a huge ball of flame.

Deciding that the danger was now over, Goku floated over to the nameless Saiyan, giving a thumbs-up.

"Thanks for that, whoever you are," he told the young man.

"Anytime," chuckled the young man, smiling back. "I was told a lot of things about you, Son Goku, but it's hard to believe a legend until you see it in person."

"Heh..." Goku chuckled, now sensing the _ki_ of his friends drawing close. Below them, Goku idly waved to his son, his oldest friends, and Vegeta. The prince predictably scoffed, shaking his head.

"If you don't mind me asking, who are you?" Goku inquired to the boy.

The young man averted his blue eyes, apparently unwilling to reveal this.

"I'm sorry, but I can't say..." he told Goku in a hushed voice. "Not in front of your friends, anyways. It's rather important that they not know certain things I'm about to say. I _can_ tell you, but we need to talk about this in private. My mother, the person who sent me here... she told me I can only trust you with what I'm about to say."

"Hey, I can promise to keep a secret!" chuckled Goku brightly. "And I keep my promises!"

"Thank you, Goku," the boy replied. "This... this is really important. It really is, the fate of Earth is probably hinging on this. So... you need to know."

"Wow, that bad?" Goku's brow furrowed. "Nothing's ever really calm these days, huh?"

"Yeah..." the boy murmured. "I'll be over here, out of earshot."

And he moved about a couple of miles away, easily a good distance to not be heard from. Goku watched him leave, then turned to his friends below.

"Hey, I'll be back in a second!" Goku called out. "The stranger needs to talk to me about something private! I'll be back in a few minutes!"

"Private?" wondered Yamcha aloud.

"What's so important?" Bulma mumbled.

"I hope he's not trying to kill Goku," grumbled Krillin. "Remember all the other Saiyans we met?"

Vegeta harumphed, rolling his eyes. Tien, Chiaotzu and Piccolo were mostly silent.

Goku now joined the youth at their spot. Confident that they were far enough from everyone else, Goku decided to speak up.

"I don't think my friends will hear us over here," Goku told the youth. "Except for Piccolo. Y'know, Namekian hearing... but you can trust him, too! He's better at keeping secrets than me, arguably."

"I can trust Piccolo, too," agreed the youth. "So... how to start off with this... guess I can start by telling you who I am. My name is Trunks."

Back over with the Z Fighters... somehow, Yamcha heard this. He cocked his head to the side.

_'Huh?'_ He shook his head, but he still heard the youth talking. _'That's weird... I know I don't have super-hearing...'_

But he was hearing it! He heard the young man declare his name was "Trunks." Yamcha, out of nowhere, bopped the side of his head, but he still heard them talking across the plain.

"Trunks, huh?" Goku outstretched his hand to shake, which the young man took. "Glad to see there's another friendly Saiyan out there. Most of the ones I met wanted to kill people. Usually me."

"Well, I'm half-Saiyan, actually," the boy named Trunks told him. "Much like your son, Gohan. And I owe my Saiyan genes to my father... the only other pureblood Saiyan who lives here."

It didn't take long for Goku to put two and two together. And when he did, his eyes went wide with surprise.

"Whoa! You're the son of _Vegeta?!_"

When Yamcha heard that, he nearly laughed, but he kept it in. Vegeta, a father? He knew what kind of monster he was... how could anyone like that have a kid? Maybe he was an accidental kid... he apparently "relieved some stress" with some woman, and they had no protection, resulting in a pregnancy. No way would someone like Vegeta want to be a parent.

Goku, over where Trunks was, was flabbergasted. Curious, he looked back between the Saiyan over there and the half-Saiyan talking to him now.

"Oh, yeah, I see it now!" Goku laughed. "Same facial features!"

Indeed, Trunks seemed to be eternally stern in the face, much like Vegeta, but not as extreme as Vegeta's scowl, due to lighter, kinder features.

"Well, that's kind of the reason I don't want him hearing this," said Trunks. "At least not yet. Obviously, Vegeta has no son. Not for the next few years, anyways..."

"So, what, you're from the future?" Goku wondered, almost jokingly.

"Actually, yes," replied Trunks bluntly.

Goku lost all of his humorous air when he heard that. This was a time traveller? And he had come back... why? To ensure his father lived? Or was it something bigger?

"You're... from the future?" Goku repeated blankly.

"_Exactly,_" answered Trunks. "The present 'me' has yet to be born in this timeline, so I want you to not tell Vegeta. _At all._ If he found out he'd be a father, I'm sure he'd distance himself from everyone just to make sure I was never born."

"Hey, like I said!" Goku chuckled. "I keep my promises, and I keep my promise to keep your secret!"

"Thanks," said Trunks. "But that's not the only reason I came back. My parentage can't be known, but there are other things I need to tell you about. Things that have to be known so the world can have a future unlike my own."

"Unlike your own? What, did something happen?"

"Something terrible," said Trunks. "The future I'm from... it's Hell on Earth, and nearly everyone is dead. Humans, beast people, any living thing... just about almost gone."

"What?!" Goku was breathless.

"Tell me..." Trunks spoke. "What do you remember about the Red Ribbon Army?"

"The Red Ribbon?" Goku remembered well. "Oh, yeah. I took 'em down when I was just a kid! My friend Eighter... he was made by them."

"Yeah, that's them," Trunks said, nodding. "Yeah, you were instrumental in defeating them all those years back... but you didn't fully destroy them..." Trunks cleared his throat and continued. "There were still some RRA supporters left after you defeated the main organization. One was their top scientist: Doctor Maki Gero. A mastermind on Android technology. He was responsible for creating a deadly pair of Androids. A pair of half-man, half-machine hybrids that only care about death and destruction. When Doctor Gero activated them, they rebelled and killed him. Then they lay waste to Earth. They attacked at 10:23 AM on May 12, Age 767... pretty much decimated South City." Trunks closed his eyes, his fists balling up as he grimly added, "In my future, 70% percent of humanity has been exterminated, and those who still live hide in fear. These Androids... they killed _everyone._ Krillin, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Piccolo... even my father."

Goku tensed. Everyone... _gone?_ What happened?

"Wh-What about my son?" Goku suddenly looked back over to his boy, standing on the side and looking oblivious. "Gohan... isn't he still alive?"

"Gohan..." Trunks repeated tremuously, looking away.

"Don't... don't tell me...?" Goku feared the answer, but he had to know...

"He is... was... my mentor," Trunks said quietly. "He taught me almost everything I knew. I'll always be grateful to him. He lost an arm to the Androids so that I could live... but he kept going after the Androids. Kept thinking he'd eventually get strong enough to beat them, even after he gave up an extremity for me. And one day... the Androids got tired of that. They ganged up on him one stormy night, and..." He stopped himself, not wanting to reveal anymore. But Goku had figured it out.

"They... killed my son..." Goku was suddenly enraged. "Dammit, where was I when that happened?! I should've been there, I could've stopped it!"

"That's just it, Goku..." Trunks cut in. "You never made it to the Androids. You ended up catching a virus you caught during your time on the planet Yardrat: a disease unlike anything on the planet. It attacks the heart, and you died from it six months before the Androids arrived."

"A _virus?_" Goku slapped the side of his head. "Wow, not the way I'd prefer to go out, but that a germ stopped me from saving everyone from... from Androids?!" What do I do?!"

"Nothing," Trunks answered, pulling out a small Dyna-Cap. "A big reason why my mother sent me back here was because she made a medicine for you. One tailored to deal with the virus." He placed it in Goku's hand. "It should slow down the effects of the virus, so that when it attacks, your body will be ready for it, and your immune system will deal with it fast enough. It's a quick killer, so this should be what you need to live through it."

"Man, thanks!" Goku chuckled, observing the Capsule with reverence. "Glad you could come back here just to make sure we can fight Androids three years from now! Should be fun!"

Yamcha, still listening on, shook his head. Typical Goku, looking forward to a challenge.

"I believe that saving your life will prevent the future I've experienced," Trunks concluded. "My mother always told me great things about you. And I have every reason to believe that the future will change with you still around."

"Yeah, you keep mentioning your mom, Trunks," Goku observed, placing his finger on his chin. "Do I know her or something?"

Trunks lowered his voice. "Yeah... you could say she's your _oldest_ friend."

And it was at this moment that Goku started to grind the gears in his brain and put the puzzle pieces together.

"Wait, hold on, now..." said Goku slowly. "Your mother made a medicine for me... she found a way to transport you back in time... and she's an old friend... you don't possibly mean...?"

"Yeah," said Trunks quietly. "My mother's right over there with your other friends."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

There was a loud _thud_, and the next thing Trunks knew, Goku had fallen on his back in surprise, staring up at him in surprise and gawking at him!

"YOU MEAN VEGETA AND BULMA?!" Goku screamed increduously. "YOU'RE THEIR KID?!"

"Shh!" Trunks placed his finger over his lips. "Shush! Don't be so loud, they might hear!"

While they had heard Goku scream, none of them had picked up what was said besides Piccolo, who had shifted in slight surprise, looking between the Saiyan Prince and the Capsule Corp heiress.

"Ugh..." grunted Vegeta. "What are they talking about over there? What did that boy say to make Kakarot fall flat on his ass?"

"I could've sworn I heard Goku say my name," Bulma added. "But I didn't hear anything else."

The only one besides Piccolo who had heard was Yamcha... and in the split-second that it had taken him to hear of this mystery Saiyan's parentage, his world had simply collapsed.

_'Vegeta and Bulma's... son?!'_

The words in his mind rang in his head like a bad earworm. His worst fears had been realized, manifesting in the form of this half-Saiyan boy from the future, claiming that he was the son of Bulma and his murderer. His heart felt like it had been hammered into a pancake.

He had feared that Bulma may like Vegeta that way, and now he knew he had feared correctly. Now there was no question that he and Bulma weren't meant to be anymore, and she would move on the next thing.

Never in his life had Yamcha felt so... defeated.

_'I... I didn't want to believe it...'_ Yamcha thought mournfully. _'I wanted to pretend it wasn't true... and then life just spits in my face.'_

Unable to keep his tears in, Yamcha turned back and began to run. Away from Bulma, away from that boy named Trunks, away from crippling reality. Tears stung his eyes as he took flight, just wanting to escape from everything.

"What the-?!" Bulma was the first to see him flying away. "What-?! Hey! Yamcha! Where are you going?! Who's gonna take me back home?! Yamcha, get back here!"

But Yamcha was out of earshot by that point. Off he flew, out of sight.

"Whoa!" Krillin exclaimed, completely confused. "Where's he off to?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Bulma snapped, furious. "That jerk! What's so important that he's gotta abandon _me_ here?!

"Maybe Baseball practice?" Tien suggested. "The season _is_ a month away..."

They were all completely oblivious. Yamcha was far away by that point, headed to West City and wanting to be nowhere near Bulma or thar boy. He cursed life, wondering what he'd done to deserve losing his girlfriend, the woman who would bear the child of that _Saiyan_...

Alone with his sorrows, Yamcha allowed his tears to fall free as he sped back to West City, to wherever his depression would lead him.

* * *

**And the Future Trunks Saga concludes, and I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth. My poor boy, Yamcha...**

**It will get better for him. I promise.**

**As for why I had Goku kill Frieza instead of Trunks, I always had an issue with how some nobody with no history with Frieza killed the intergalactic tyrant. So I rectified that. At least Trunks still get a kill in, as I have less problem with King Cold being dispatched by someone new, especially since he had been uninvolved with the Z Fighters until now.**

**Now for power levels...**

*** Bulma: 2**

*** Chiaotzu: 40,000**

*** Yamcha: 100,000**

*** Tien: 120,000**

*** Krillin: 150,000**

*** Gohan: 1,700,000**

*** Piccolo: 2,400,000**

*** Vegeta: 3,200,000**

*** Future Trunks: 3,800,000 (natural), 195,000,000 (Super Saiyan)**

*** Goku: 4,000,000 (natural), 200,000,000 (Super Saiyan)**

*** Mecha Frieza: 165,000,000**

*** King Cold: 180,000,000**

**And thats all for now****! I hope you can forgive me for the hiatus. I'll be upadting faster when I get my laptop fixed, but for now, be satisfied with this chapter. Again, big thanks to Childhood Enigma for being my writing partner!**

**That's all the time I got now, so see you next chapter****! Hopefully my next update will be soon! And I hope the COVID-19 isn't getting you down. So I'll be praying you stay well!**

**Alright, see you later!**

**Sky-Kaiser out****!**


	9. Chapter VIII: Unfaithful

**Sky-Kaiser here.**

**I might as well stop fooling around and get moving along with the next chapter, as the chapters aren't going to update themselves.**

**A****s**** for my kindly reviewers...**

**Midnite93, I can assure you that it only gets better from here on out, and yes: Gohan's character will be far advanced compared to what we got with Gohan's secret identity as "The Great Saiyaman"... honestly, the canon Majin Arc ticks me off so much. All that wasted potential. But Gohan will most certainly meet standards, and possibly beyond. He was always my favorite character... Yamcha is the second.**

**AlphaShenron, as I said in previous chapters, Yamcha has something rather special about him in this fic, and that will be explained. Though now that you mention it, I forgot about the Zenkai for Vegeta and Gohan.**** I went back and edited the power level list in the previous chapter. Hopefully it's now up to date.**

**Dragonballaca, I'm really glad you're enjoying the story. And yes, I hope my laptop gets fixed, soon. This virus is out of hand.**

**Shisoukengo, I'm glad you're still invested. Once again, I must say there's a reason Yamcha's hearing was sharpened at that one moment. It has something to do with his powers starting to surface following the fight with King Cold, but I can say no more until then. And yes, this will be fuel for his training.**

**Now... to business****. OG DB fans might like this chapter... we're getting a special guest appearance from _another_ girl who interacted with Yamcha in the past!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**Chapter 8: Unfaithful**

* * *

Over with Goku and the mysterious Saiyan known as Trunks, they had not seen Yamcha depart the way he had. In fact, Goku was still overcoming the massive shock he had endured from hearing what Trunks had just told him.

"Wow!" gasped Goku, springing back up. "Vegeta and Bulma? A couple? I never would've thought that in a million years!" He looked back at the group, particularly at Vegeta and Bulma, before turning back to Trunks. "I always assumed Yamcha was gonna tie the knot with Bulma... did something happen?"

"Well, I don't know the whole story..." Trunks admitted before continuing. "However, my mom always told me that she and Yamcha had a rough relationship before they broke it off for good. She eventually got fed up with him because he was always... how did Mom put it...? 'Playing the field.' I guess that means he was unfaithful to her, so she got rid of him." Goku thought he heard a slight hint of anger in Trunks' voice before he moved on. "After that, she started growing attracted to my father, seeing him alone at night, looking up at the stars as if he were trying to find purpose. In the end, she caught my father's attention, and... well, what they did was meant to be a one-night stand. But here I am."

Goku took a second to mull that over. Vegeta and Bulma had ended up with a child because Yamcha had messed around with other women behind Bulma's back? That didn't sound like Yamcha at all.

_'Why would Yamcha cheat, though?'_ Goku wondered._ 'I mean, Bulma's a beautiful woman. Sure, she's not Chi-Chi, but she's still very pretty. Why would Yamcha not stay loyal to her?'_

Goku turned back again, and only then did he notice Yamcha's absence. This threw him off, though Trunks glared at the spot where Yamcha had stood, apparently convinced of his suspicion that Yamcha had apparently done his mother dirty.

And yet, Goku got curious enough to ask this:

"Does Yamcha at least find happiness?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, does he find someone new?"

"Probably not," Trunks replied, almost apathetically. "My mom says she never saw Yamcha with anyone else after they broke it off. If he _did_ have another girlfriend, we never knew about it. Either way, he died to one of the Androids, same as everyone else."

"Oof," Goku said mildly. He supposed that sounded more like Yamcha, having bad luck with other girls. _'__Old habits die hard, I guess,'_ he thought to himself.

If only he'd known that Yamcha had never wanted to make it a habit in the first place.

"Hey..." Goku now spoke up, looking to switch topic. "If you're here to warn us about these killer robots, does that mean you're here to stay? We could use all the help we can get if they're as dangerous as you say they are..."

"I..." Trunks shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I need to return to my timeline to try and keep the Androids there from destroying what we have left. And please..." He placed his hand on Goku's shoulder as he apoke with urging. "Please... keep the secret about my parents. One little slip-up, and I might just blink out of existence. Timelines are really janky."

"Don't worry," assured Goku. "Your secret's safe with me! But... will we at least see you again?"

Trunks nodded and smiled. "If you want, I can come back 3 years from now, when the Androids appear, if that's all fine with you."

"That sounds perfect!" replied Goku.

"Then that's all you need to hear from me," said Trunks, now starting to take his leave as he began to levitate away. "For now, this is farewell. Stay safe, Son Goku. I'll see you again 3 years from today."

"Alright, see ya!"

Goku waved Trunks 'bye' as he flew away and out of sight, possibly to wherever his time machine was.

With the new Saiyan having taken his departure, Goku's friends came over to join him, curious to know what the exchange was about (except for Piccolo, who had heard all of it due to his amazing hearing).

"Hey, Goku, is everything alright?" asked Krillin.

"Who was that boy?" inquired Vegeta roughly. "What did he want?"

"And where's he off to?" Bulma piped up. "He just straight up left, much like Yamcha did just now..."

"Well," Goku scratched his head, knowing that he must be cautious regarding he was in the company of Trunks' parents. "He said he couldn't tell everyone his name. Private matter, I guess..."

"But what did he say, Dad?" questioned Gohan.

"It's gonna sound crazy, son," Goku replied, shaking his head. "Piccolo... you heard all of that, right?"

"I did," answered Piccolo. "If you need, I can help provide them with what they need to know without jeopardizing the Saiyan's identity."

"Thanks, Piccolo!" Goku chirped.

And the two of them began to explain what they had heard, all of them being completely captivated as they were subject to a tale of death and destruction...

**...**

**Downtown West City...**

Far off from the Northern Wastelands, attempting to drown out his sorrows, was Yamcha. Heart damaged beyond repair, he sat slumped over the countertop of a local bar.

Business was in full swing, with numerous people, human or anthropomorphic, enjoying themselves and getting intoxicated. Yamcha was the sole exception, downing a fifth mug of beer in a futile attempt to wash away the immense agony in his feels.

_'What... what have I been trying to save...?'_ Yamcha lamented in his mind. _'Should I have never even loved Bulma...? All the years I spent with her... were a waste?'_

As he felt reason to, Yamcha reflected on his relationship with Bulma once again. Ever since they were 16 years old, they were inseparable. They were happy together, and though they hit some rough spots, they always got over everything.

And then that kid from the future appeared, declaring to be the offspring of his girlfriend and that... that Saiyan _bastard_.

Yamcha almost wanted to break down into petty, pathetic tears again. But despite his melancholy, he knew he wasn't that weak. He wouldn't start bawling like a baby who had been robbed of his pacifier.

But... it still didn't take the pain away...

Whilst dabbling in his unhappy thoughts, one of the bartenders approached him and seemed to observe him with interest. Said bartender was female, and had apparently done a double-take as in to recognize the man laid out on the countertop.

"Well..." the woman said in a smooth, British accent. "I never expected to see _you_ here after all these years."

Yamcha mumbled, having almost conked out completely as he looked up, his eyes locking with a pair of narrow, dark teal eyes. Said eyes belonged to a woman of pale complexion and bushy blonde hair, clad in a common bartender uniform that hugged her fit body. Her ruby lips were curved into a welcoming smile.

The sight of such an alluring woman made Yamcha jump back up with a yelp, almost falling out of his seat. He quickly straightened himself out and attempted to look civil.

"Sorry, ma'am!" Yamcha told her. "I was lost in my thoughts and I nearly fell asleep..."

Suddenly, Yamcha stopped his mouth as he suddenly noticed how familiar the bartender looked.

"Wait a minute...!" Yamcha gasped, pointing his finger at the barkeep. "You... you're that fortuneteller spy! The one who worked for the Red Ribbon Army!"

"And you're Yamcha, right?" the woman replied, emitting a low giggle. "It's been a long time, love. Very long."

"You... it _is_ you..." Yamcha narrowed his eyes, not taking his eyes off the woman. Not because she was pretty (which she was), but because he was unsure whether to trust such a person. She was the very same person who had disguised herself to learn the location of the Dragon Balls. Who was to say this was her on a new job for some nefarious purpose?

"If you're thinking I'm here to take advantage of your fear of women just so I can hear something from you, you're wrong," the woman assured her, taking Yamcha's used mug and inserting a cloth into it, rubbing around to clean any traces of untouched drink before she went to serve with it again. "I don't work for those Red Ribbon wankers anymore. I'm not even a thief. I left that life. Now, I serve drinks."

Yamcha didn't seem fully convinced, staring at the bartender with suspicion. He even eyed the woman's cloth, wondering if perhaps she might be adding poison with it. He could never tell with someone like this.

"I _guess_ I can believe that," he told the barkeep slowly. "But I got over being scared of girls... kinda. So don't label me, Miss..."

Crap. Did he even know her name?

"Hasky, love," the former spy replied. "And stop staring at me like I'll pull a gun and shoot you in my workplace. It'd be bad for business."

Yamcha was still skeptical, his eyes on the barkeep intently before averting his eyes. He still wasn't looking at her in the way that men usually stared at attractive women, but rather he eyed her with suspicion.

"So..." Hasky purred, leaning against the countertop. "What had you sprawled across my working spot like a drowned rat? I almost began to believe you caught something nasty..."

Yamcha stared at Hasky one last time, pursing his lips... and then he relaxed himself (though not enough to be caught off guard), clasping his fingers on the table as he spoke.

"Well... I did catch something," he told her. "A bad case of miserable, unfair reality. I just learned something so insane you wouldn't believe..."

"Try me," Hasky replied, speaking instantly. "I sold my gun for for a militant organization plotting to take over the whole planet. Then I saw Demon King Piccolo get his arse handed to him by a little boy. And that's not even mentioning the blokes who glassed a city two and a half years back. Maybe I'll surprise you."

"Can I trust you?" Yamcha asked, still not convinced of Hasky's friendliness.

"Don't worry," Hasky assured him. "I did my time after your friend Goku got me arrested, and my days of stealing are over. I'm not letting anything leave this bar."

Deciding he had nothing to lose, Yamcha shrugged in resignment.

"Alright... I guess I can tell you..."

And so, as he began to reacquaint himself with Hasky (and on a much nicer note than their last meeting), Yamcha told her the entire story about how this day had turned out. He told her about how he was still with Bulma (Hasky remembered Bulma because of her... reaction to seeing them together). He told her about how their relationship had been shaky recently due to Bulma suspecting him of cheating (which he constantly emphasized that he'd never do). Then he told her about the dilemma regarding the emperor of the universe, who had come with his father to take over Earth. He told her about how a boy claiming to be from the future had saved them, alongside Goku. And he told her who the boy was, and who his parents were. By the time he was finished with his story, he had downed two more drinks. It was amazing how he hadn't succumbed to the alcohol's effects.

Hasky surprisingly took it all pretty well. She was no stranger to weird things, it seemed.

"That _is_ rough..." she told him. "So your girlfriend thinks you're unfaithful, she's into a man who killed you, and when you were trying to fix what you had with her, some kid comes from the future and says he's their child."

"Yeah..." said Yamcha dismally. "The tragedy that is my first relationship..."

"Mmm..." Hasky looked at the countertop, then back to Yamcha's eyes. "Well... if you wanted some advice on what to do, I'd hate to disappoint you. But I have nothing. I mean, I've been with men, fooled around in that way... but I'm no romantic. And though I _did_ work with the Red Ribbon - technological geniuses, mind you - they never developed time travel. So you're going to have to work this out on your own..."

"I figured as much..." Yamcha sighed, shaking his head. Maybe now the booze he had consumed was beginning to intoxicate him. "I mean... I suppose it isn't too late. This Trunks... if he's from another timeline, I don't think it should matter if I still hook up with Bulma... would that hurt things if I still pursued her?"

"Daring, trying to change time yourself, desert bandit..." Hasky told him, smirking. "But in all honesty, it's much better than the idea I was suddenly starting to conjure..."

"What idea?"

"Two ideas, actually, love..." Hasky began to go a deep shade of red, very uncharacteristic of her. "One idea I had involved a gun and an assassination." She looked away, grinning. "The other involved a bed."

Yamcha went red with blush, remembering with embarrassment his failed attempt to seduce Bulma.

"I... I tr-tried that, actually," stuttered Yamcha, looking away. "I tried to get Bulma in bed, but we... got interrupted."

"No, no, no, sweetheart," laughed Hasky. "No, you misunderstand. It's in the possibility that she _does_ cheat on you."

"Huh?"

"It's just that given that it _could_ happen, and you could be left alone, well..." Hasky now had a seductive glint in her teal orbs as she told Yamcha, "When I mentioned a bed... I didn't mean hers."

It took five seconds for Yamcha to realize what Hasky meant.

"Wait, whoa, hold up!" Yamcha sat up, looking flustered. "Are you making a pass at me? Last time we saw each other, you wanted to _kill_ me, and now you're saying you want me in your bed?"

"It's just a suggestion," replied Hasky, deliberately leaning chest-first on the counter so that her bust pressed against the bar. Now Yamcha was so red his hue was that of an apple's. "You could think of it as me making up for that time I tied you up... that sound nice?"

Yamcha didn't immediately reply, trying to regain his thoughts after noticing Hasky's... endownment.

But then Hasky stood back up and shrugged.

"But it's a foolish idea," the former thief said with indifference. "You're still trying to make up with the girl you're with, and I respect that..."

"I... never said it was a bad idea..."

Yamcha cleared his throat as Hasky did a doubletake.

"What I mean is, if things don't work out," added Yamcha, trying not to look too embarrassed. "It could... I guess it could take my mind off of all the crap I've heard in the past few days... but I'd rather wait until I know for sure that there's no chance for me and Bulma." He pushed away his empty mug, taking a deep breath. "I... I've never thought of myself as a promiscuous guy... I've been fending off a whole club of fangirls since I started taking up baseball, all when I was with Bulma. But seeing that what I have with her might end... well, if things don't work out with me and her, I guess... I guess I could... try it out with you."

Still as red as a beet, he averted his gaze, attempting to keep himself from freaking out in Hasky's presence. He felt so dirty, asking this girl that he was sure he hadn't met in years if they could have a tumble.

"Aww, good boy," Hasky cooed. "I've always liked the innocent types." She extended her hand out to place her index finger on his chin, and pulled his face to lock eyesight with hers. Yamcha shook from Hasky's touch, feeling something very similar to the time she'd had him at bladepoint with a scimitar. "Then you know where to go if things don't fall through," she purred.

Yamcha gulped, almost expecting the sultry ex-thief to lean in and kiss him. But he stayed composed, doing his best to stay together, which thankfully, he managed to succeed at.

"Ahem..." Yamcha cleared his throat. "Th... Thanks, Hasky..." he murmured. "I guess it won't be like that time you were gonna kill me and then Bulma knocked my lights out... if it happens."

Hasky winked, and removed her finger, creating a more comfortable distance between her and Yamcha. Inwardly, Yamcha was thankful. He had been getting a little overly nervous.

"Can... can I have another drink?" asked Yamcha. "Non-alcoholic? I can't trust myself drunk around a beautiful lady..."

"You're lucky, then," said Hasky, taking his mug. "I serve just about anything that you can count as a drink."

"That's good," said Yamcha, deciding to himself that he was feeling better. "Maybe I can tell you about everything else that's been going on since... we met."

"Alright, then..." replied Hasky, cleaning out his mug once again. "Maybe I can go and tell you what I've been doing since I got arrested by your little friend..."

And the two began to reacquaint themselves, a new friendship being born as the two shared their tales on how their lives had been going...

**...**

**Back at the Northern Wastelands...**

"Androids?" repeated Krillin.

"In 3 years?" Bulma added.

"And they kill us all?" Vegeta gaped.

The Z Fighters were stunned as Goku had finished his story on the terrible creations of Doctor Maki Gero.

"Well, what do we do about it?" asked Tien.

"My guess?" Goku answered. "We train like never before. That boy... he said that these Androids were strong enough to kill us all. And they're strong enough to kill Super Saiyans."

Gohan shuddered, having heard the part about how he died fighting _both_ the Androids. Vegeta was equally floored.

"Strong enough to... kill a Super Saiyan?" he mouthed. "Im... Impossible..."

"Crap..." grumbled Krillin. "Well, if there _are_ bad guys coming, we have to put our hearts into it. There's no other way we can get through this."

"Wait a minute!" Bulma spoke up, raising her finger. "We don't have to do any of that! Hear me out... we can just gather the Dragon Balls, ask Shenron where Doctor Gero is, find him, and stop him before he ever completes his work! Problem solved!"

Everyone looked at her for a second.

"Nah," they all agreed.

"What?!" Bulma complained. "It's the easiest solution!"

"And though your solution _is_ good," Vegeta told her, "I have to say it's also extremely boring compared to being able to actually fight these Androids."

"I know Vegeta isn't... the most agreeable guy," said Goku, shrugging. "But I gotta agree with him here... I wanna fight the Androids, too! If they're stronger than Frieza, it seems like the perfect fight!"

"Are you insane?!" Bulma snapped. "You just said these Androids kill everyone! They could kill you! They could kill everyone!"

"But isn't getting stronger what Saiyans do?" Goku argued meekly. "Now that we know that they're coming, we'll be ready for them!"

Bulma nearly face-faulted at Goku's insistence to fight rather than find an easy solution. The Saiyan addiction for battle was a real pain.

"Finally," Vegeta snorted, an arrogant grin upon his face. "We agree on something, Kakarot. If that boy was indeed a Super Saiyan, then that's all the reason I need. I thought I would be left with no more means to surpass you. I thought you _were_ better than me. But now I see I've always had the means to become stronger than you and kill you! I'll find the way to achieve Super Saiyan... and I'll be the strongest in the universe at last!"

Gohan, Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu went stiff, Vegeta's declaration easily leaving them tense. Piccolo was not so fazed, glaring at the Saiyan Prince without flinching. Goku was not easily intimidated either.

"We can have it that way, then," said Goku. "Once we're done with these Androids, we'll finish what we started 2 years ago. I promised I'd beat you on my own this time, if you wanted to try and blow up Earth again."

"I remember," growled Vegeta. "And you will fail to deliver on that promise."

There was a tense air formed as the two Saiyans locked gazes, obviously focused on their future conflict. This was thankfully broken when...

"Hey, there he is!" Gohan cried out, pointing above them. "That guy from the future!"

This caught everyone's attention, and Goku and Vegeta were diverted from their standoff to see that Gohan was pointing off in the distance, up in the air.

The boy who called himself Trunks was sitting inside a strange machine slowly ascending into the sky. The contraption had an egg shape, at its base, in how it was designed. With the top third being a glass dome, allowing the pilot inside to be visible and see the world from within the lower half had a quad of protruding rockets, for which were responsible for why it was suspended in the air. Adjacent to these smaller thrusters were four yellow legs, acting as the landing gear for the machine, sticking out from underneath the machine in mid-air. And beneath and below those faculties was the singular engine that acted as the main power thruster. Seeing as this looked to be the young man's time machine, this thruster was most likely built into this marvel of time-space engineering for both normal movement, and phasing in-between time periods, alternate realities, and whatever other existences laid beyond.

Gazing down at the Z Fighters from behind the glass, the youth had a solemn look on his face as he prepared to return to a sad, bleak future where all the people he saw in front of him were dead, sans his mother. The fact that he'd hardly interacted with his mother's past self... and that he hadn't even spoken with his father... maybe the opportunity would come soon.

"Well... goodbye, everyone," Trunks said to himself, raising his hand to wave 'farewell' to those below. "Perhaps I'll get the chance to know you all better when the time comes... especially you, Father."

His eyes never left his father, the man with flame-like hair and the forever scowling expression, as he and the time machine began to fade away like a mirage. The Z Fighters all watched as he disappeared without a trace...

There was a light silence as the group took in how the boy's claims of being a time traveller were real...

"By the way..." Goku spoke up, breaking the silence. "When I was in space, I learned something new, thought I could show you!"

Without much thought of it, Goku suddenly placed his middle and index fingers to his head, and suddenly he vanished! Gohan, Krillin and Chiaotzu gasped, while Tien and Piccolo's eyes widened. Vegeta even twitched a bit from surprise. For a split second, they felt Goku's _ki_ in another spot on the planet... and then suddenly Goku was back in front of them, wearing a familiar pair of shades with red rims!

"Dad, was that... teleportation?!" Gohan gasped.

"You betcha!" chuckled Goku, tossing the shades to Krillin.

"Wait, aren't these...?" Krillin murmured, recognizing them...

He had a very hilarious image in his head of Master Roshi yelling, "GOKU JUST DONE STOLE MAH GLASSES!" after being robbed of his shades. He quickly suppressed a laugh.

"Yup!" Goku confirmed. "It was nice to see Master Roshi again, by the way!"

Krillin finally burst out with a hearty guffaw, as did Gohan and Chiaotzu. Tien and Piccolo shook their heads. Vegeta snorted.

"A little something I picked up in space after I escaped Namek that couple of years back!" Goku added.

"And that kinda leads us to the obvious question, Goku..." Krillin replied. "How in the all-living heck did you survive?!"

"Well," Goku began, "obviously, I had a way to get off Namek. One of those Ginyu Force guys still had a working pod, so I got in and piloted it off Namek before it blew. I was so exhausted afterwards that I didn't have time to plot a course, so I ended up on a place called Yardrat."

Gohan and Krillin looked at each other, now remembering how they had seen the Ginyu Force Attack Pods back when they were on Namek. And they'd just about forgot that there was other transportation on the planet besides Bulma's spaceship and Frieza's saucer.

"Anyways," Goku continued. "The people of Yardrat were very nice! They nursed me back to health, gave me new clothes..." - ("That explains the ridiculous outfit," snarked Vegeta) - "...and they even taught me how to do the teleporting thing! They call it 'Instantaneous Movement,' but I think 'Instant Transmission' sounds a bit cooler..."

"But wait," Chiaotzu spoke up, cutting Goku off. "If you could teleport, then why didn't you just pop up when you sensed Frieza on Earth? We could've used the help..."

"Well, it seemed to me like you had it under control," Goku said defensively. "One of you guys got really strong all of a sudden, but then Frieza got stronger, and I thought I might have to teleport in again. But then I sensed that Super Saiyan kid fighting Frieza and the others, so I decided I'd get there when I did." Goku then scratched his head. "By the way, what _was_ that power I sensed fighting Frieza's dad? It felt like..."

"Yamcha," Tien answered.

"Wait, _that_ was Yamcha?" Goku gawked. "I didn't know he could get that strong!"

"I don't fully understand myself, Goku," said Piccolo. "Obviously, something awakened in him. He didn't seem or act like himself... he was like a rabid beast, seeking to rend and tear his foe - King Cold - apart, which I believe he would have, had Frieza not chosen to intervene."

"Wow!" Goku breathed. "I gotta talk to him about this! If he's that strong, he could help with the Androids!"

Bulma could care less about how strong her boyfriend was at the moment, still sour about him having up and left.

"To be honest," said Tien. "If he's that strong, we may have to catch up. I didn't know he was hiding that kind of power in him, but now that I know, it gives me all the motivation in the world to find a way to get that strong myself. If we're gonna defeat these Androids, we need all the time to get ready."

"I still say we should look for Doctor Gero's lab and blow it," Bulma snorted. "But screw my train of thought, right?"

"Well, I guess that settles that!" said Krillin, putting Master Roshi's shades on. "I'll probably see you all in 3 years... I'm headed back to Kame House to practice my Kamehameha for when the Androids get here."

"And we'd better get going ourselves," Tien added. "I need to see how I can surpass Yamcha, if such a thing is possible. Chiaotzu, I think we can find a way, right?"

"Yeah!" cheered Chiaotzu. "We'll show those Androids!"

"Fine, then," Vegeta spoke, sneering. "I'll be looking forward to when I can crush these Androids... just so I can crush you, Kakarot!"

"Just watch yourself, Vegeta," Goku told him. "It's a promise that after these Androids, we _will_ settle the score. But until then, you're still helping us. And given that you're not Super Saiyan yet... I'd stay in line for now."

Vegeta glared. Even though he was a conceited jerkhole, he knew better than to provoke a man he _knew_ was a Super Saiyan and was certainly league beyond him.

"Alright!" said Krillin, now taking flight. "I'll let Master Roshi know he wasn't seeing things when you took his shades! See you later!"

"Until next time," added Tien, waving farewell.

"Fine by me..." Vegeta snorted as he began to take off, but...

"Hey, Vegeta!" Goku called out. "What about Bulma?"

Vegeta halted to look down at the fuming human woman with the afro.

"Yeah, what _about_ me?" she snapped. "My good-for-nothing boyfriend just left me here, and..."

"What _about_ you?" Vegeta asked rhetorically. "If your man left you all alone, you'll have to wait until he gets back here. That, or you can just stay here."

"_Vegeta..._" Goku cautioned. "I think you should take her home if no one else will."

Vegeta hesitated, having a face that cried out "This is stupid!" But he ultimately gave in.

"_Fine,_" snarled Vegeta, coming back down to Earth. "Fine..."

He roughly grabbed Bulma and slung her over his shoulder, making her yelp.

"H-Hey!" yelled Bulma. "Carry me properly, you jerk!"

"There was nothing said about making you comfortable, Earth woman," Vegeta barked back. "Now _come on._"

"B... Bye, Bulma..." said Goku feebly, realizing that this attempt of his to try and speed up the process of Vegeta and Bulma hooking up had failed spectacularly.

A very annoyed Bulma flipped Goku off in massive irritation as Vegeta flew off with her still carried on her shoulder. She felt like a piece of luggage, what with her being slung over him like a poached animal. And it didn't help that Vegeta's hand was unnecessarily placed near her butt, which was up in the air as they flew away.

"Just don't get any funny ideas," Bulma warned him.

"As if I was going to," Vegeta snapped back. "Well, I pray you don't do the same."

"Ugh! No thank you!" Bulma spat. "Asshole..."

_'__I'm an idiot...'_ she thought in a rage._ 'I just watched Goku teleport himself, and I don't even ask if **he** could take me home! Serves me right... now I feel like __luggage!'_

En route to Capsule Corp, Bulma couldn't but think, however... this was kind of fun, being carried on the back of such an unfeeling, obviously unfriendly guy like Vegeta...

_'I mean... if Vegeta weren't hot, it'd be easier to be angry at him...'_

This idle thought suddenly stirred a well of denial in her and, realizing what she'd just put in her mind, she shook her head, suddenly angry with herself at such a disloyal thought.

_'...no, no, no! You're with Yamcha! Put yourself together!'_

She took deep breaths, possibly confusing the man carrying her, before she remembered to be angry with her absent boyfriend.

_'Speaking of... Yamcha's gonna have some explaining to do when he comes back to Capsule Corp. He's getting a piece of my mind for leaving me here to be carried by this nut job!'_

**...**

Speaking of, indeed, Yamcha was slowly headed back to Capsule Corp after his talk at the bar, strolling down the streets of West City. He was taking his time because he was not eager to see the girl he knew would be in a flying rage if he came to her now. That, and he still wasn't looking forward to seeing her, given the truth...

It was as he was mulling it over that suddenly Goku materialized in front of him, Gohan at his side!

"WHOA!" Yamcha nearly fell on his behind!

"Sorry, Yamcha!" chuckled Goku. "New technique!"

"How did you-?! Never mind," Yamcha spluttered, shaking his head.

"Dad noticed how you left so suddenly," added Gohan, "so he wanted to talk to you before we went back home..."

"Partially because I know Chi-Chi might raise cane if she sees me after 2 years off somewhere," Goku said sheepishly.

"I know how that feels," Yamcha laughed, ruffling his own messy hair. "You know, Bulma..."

But his efforts to conceal his melancholy suddenly dropped around the time he spoke her name. And it was then that Goku knew something was going on.

"You OK, Yamcha?" he asked. "'Cause you ran off while I was talking to the future kid..."

_'Trunks,' _Yamcha mouthed.

Goku caught sight of his lips moving with no words, and inquired, "Sorry?"

Yamcha took in a deep breath. Not even caring that Gohan was in close proximity and listening, he decided to speak up.

"Goku, I know who that boy is..."

"You what?" Goku gaped.

"What?" Gohan looked confused. "What do you mean-?"

"Gohan," said Goku with caution, placing his hands up. "Maybe now's not the best time for you to hear this..."

But Yamcha kept going.

"I know what he said about the Androids," added Yamcha. "But what got me was what he said about his parents..."

"You... you _do_ know..." Goku looked around in confusion. "How else would you know about the Androids? I never said anything about them..."

"I know it's suspicious, Goku, alright?" Yamcha spoke over him, his voice desperate. "Somehow I heard you two. The kid's from the future, he's half-Saiyan which is why he was a Super Saiyan, two Androids kill nearly everyone on the planet, I know. I think me hearing you guys had something to do with the crazy power boost I experienced when..." He stopped talking. "...oh, right. I didn't tell you about that?"

"No, Dad knows," said Gohan. "We were all talking about how strong you got against Frieza's dad."

"It's part of the reason I came," Goku added. "But given your train of thought..."

"Goku, I can't talk about that now!" Yamcha groaned. "Not when I've just learned that the only woman I've ever loved is going to dump me for the only other Saiyan on the planet!"

"SHHHH!" Goku frantically put his hands up, waving them wildly, but the truth was already out. Gohan, perceptive boy that he was, caught on.

"You mean that Vegeta and Miss Bulma-?!"

"Gohan!" Goku cried out helplessly, looking back to his son with pleading eyes. "Please! No one can know!" He rounded on Yamcha. "Now look, Yamcha! Gohan knows!"

"I'm sorry, Goku!" Yamcha snapped. "I can't help it! I just... why? Why did she leave me?"

"I..." Goku lowered his head and turned back to his son. "Gohan... I'm sorry you got involved in this, but no one can know about that kid's parents. Especially not... you know."

Gohan nodded feebly, slapping the side of his head in complete wonderment at the fact of the future boy's parents, simultaneously experiencing a huge well of sympathy for Yamcha.

"I only know what he told me," Goku ventured. "He said that Bulma said you... 'played the field'..."

"WHAT?"

Yamcha's jaw dropped in pure shock. So they'd broken up about the same nonsense! Her believing that he was out cheating!

Sure, he had earlier entertained the thought of hanging out with Hasky in _that_ way, but that was only because he had reason to believe Bulma would leave him. Very _good_ reason. Before now, he had never made a move toward another woman. And even now, he had agreed with himself that he would try things out with Hasky _after_ he knew for sure that pursuing Bulma was all for naught.

"She-!" Yamcha stammered in incredulity. "She-! She-! Sorry, but what?!"

Goku, completely missing the point, told him, "'Playing the field' means cheat-"

"I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS, GOKU!" shouted Yamcha, his hands on his head. "I just-! Just... WHAT?!"

"Yamcha, I'm sorry!" Goku implored, putting his hands up. "Can we calm down? I didn't think it made sense either!"

Yamcha was quiet, taking deep breaths as he tried to restrain the massive outrage in him right now. He growled, suddenly feeling for a second as if he weren't himself, but quickly coming back to reality.

"Dammit..." Yamcha shook his head. "I've got no choice, then... I..." He cleared his throat. "I've got to devote myself fully, now. I need to marry Bulma, show her how much I love her and care for her! That I'd never ditch her for anyone else!"

"Yamcha, you can't!" cried out Goku. "Yamcha... if you marry Bulma, Trunks won't come back. He'll just blink out of existence because of you."

"But-!"

Now Yamcha was quiet... so it _was_ like that. If he got with Bulma... Trunks would "die", so to speak. But he didn't want to kill someone, not even if they may be the son of his love and a man who wasn't him. He wasn't so petty as to take his wrath out on someone who was uninvolved with what his mother had done.

"Well, Yamcha," Goku told him, trying to tread a thin line "I mean, this is for the sake of the world... if Vegeta and Bulma don't get together, things will get bad. We need Trunks' help, Yamcha..."

"Why _Bulma,_ though?" Yamcha asked no one in particular. "Why not anyone else?"

"I don't know, Yamcha," Goku replied, not sensing that what Yamcha said was a question he didn't want answered. "But if we're gonna beat these Androids, we need Trunks. If Vegeta and Bulma found out about how they were gonna have a kid, they'd keep away from each other, and Trunks would never be born all the same."

"That's not helping at all!" Yamcha seethed, growing irritated with Goku's unintentional lack of sympathy as his voce started to raise a pitch. "Why aren't you saying _anything_ like 'You'll find love someday,' or 'You and Bulma can still work out,' or _something_ like that?! I dated Bulma for years, and all you can say is 'We need that boy from the future!' WHAT ABOUT HOW I FEEL, GOKU?!"

Yamcha turned his back amd marched a few feet away from Goku and his son, tears starting to sting his eyes. This had to be the worst day of his life. His ex was going to leave him for Vegeta, and all Goku had to say about it was 'Sorry, but you gotta let it happen.' He knew that Goku wasn't trying to be hurtful on purpose, but even so...

He needed comfort now, more than ever. And Goku's stupidity was not very comforting.

"Mr. Yamcha?"

Yamcha looked to see Gohan standing next to his leg, a somber expression on his face. Yamcha's stressed and upset expression softened upon seeing this.

"Maybe this isn't entirely accurate," Gohan told him, "but... I'm really sorry you and Miss Bulma don't work out. We've all seen how much you care for her. But my mom once told me that if you really care for someone, you should help them find happiness, not ruin their chances."

Yamcha didn't want to snap at Gohan, even though he just said something he disagreed with. Gohan was just a kid, trying to help.

"But I _do_ want Bulma to be happy," Yamcha replied. "And I want me and her to work out..."

"The way Dad's saying it, it doesn't seem like that's a choice..." Gohan averted his gaze, feeling bad for having to tell his dad's friend this. "My mom told me something once... there was a friend of my dad's who loved him very much. But when he got together with Mom, she had to let him go... because she wanted Dad to be happy, even if it didn't mean with her."

"But how can Bulma be happy with Vegeta?" asked Yamcha, his voice unsatisfied.

"I don't know," Gohan answered, shrugging. "But, Mr. Yamcha... my mom told me that if you truly love someone, you'll let them find happiness by themselves. And Dad's right... we need this Trunks guy. But it doesn't mean that you won't be happy one day... just that it won't be with Bulma."

"But..."

Yamcha suddenly felt himself crying. Tears were amassing in his eyes. He wanted to run again, but... his legs were rooted to the spot.

"But... now what... what do I do?"

"I... don't know..." Gohan replied dismally.

"Yamcha..." Goku muttered sadly as he approached to put his arm around Yamcha's back. "Crap, I... I'm sorry..."

Yamcha accepted their company as he failed to fight the tears. Ignoring his visible anguish, he was glad that at least _some_ people cared enough to be near him in what he could possibly declare was the lowest moment in his life.

"Hey," Goku spoke slowly. "Do you... want us to take you back to Capsule Corp, or...?"

"No," said Yamcha, angrily wiping the liquid emotion from his face. "I'll manage. You... should probably see your wife..."

"But..." Goku looked hesitant.

"This is just..." Yamcha shook his head. "It's just something I'll have to deal with..."

Goku looked at Gohan as if needing direction, but the boy was out of advice.

"Let's go home, Dad," he said. "And don't worry, Mr. Yamcha. We won't tell anyone about... you know."

"Sure..."

Goku placed his hand on his son's shoulder as he fazed out of existence yet again. Yamcha blinked rapidly at that. He needed to ask Goku about that the next time they talked. But for now, he had his Bulma problem.

"Is this really the end of me and Bulma, though?" he wondered aloud as he began a long stroll for Capsule Corp.

That phrase nagged at him as he made his slow journey back home, bracing himself for Bulma's fury, and praying it wouldn't get too heated.

**...**

**And there we have it.**

**Geez, my progress needs to speed up. I'm sorry for the gaps, and I also apologize if the ending of this chapter felt rushed or so****.**

**I may come back to edit this chapter later on, but for now, I gotta move on to the next chappie. Hopefully the upcoming installments to this series will not be as half-butted.**

**Thanks to Childhood Enigma for being my co-writer, as well as LastationLover5000 and Demod20 for help in writing this chapter.**

**Until then, everyone.**

**Sky-Kaiser out.**


	10. Chapter IX: Seperate Focuses

**Sky-Kaiser reporting in...**

**Alright, I really don't have anything on my mind going into me writing this chapter, except that I really hope this COVID-19 crap gets done quick, and my laptop can get fixed****.**

**Now, for comments...**

**Midnite93, I can assure you, Yamcha will not stay unhappy at all. And actually... your answer on what Yamcha will do next is... actually pretty accurate! Stay tuned.**

**Dragonballaca, I agree with you. I feel like the last chapter's ending was a bit half-assed. I might go back and fix that part of the story, but for now, I gotta work on the upcoming chapters.**

**Johncorn, I'm glad you're enjoying things! Stick around!**

**Shisoukengo... I agree with you. I just feel like Goku as a whole would be trying to argue _why_ they need Trunks. Wasn't necessarily trying to have him come off as a jerk, but rather not completely thinking of how everyone feels about the situation. I _was_ trying to have Gohan be symphathetic though... but maybe it didn't work. Like I said, I may very well take a step back and just change the ending to that chapter to just Yamcha returning to Capsule Corp and thinking things over, deciding on his own what he must do next. Or maybe I'll modify the scene**** a little to come off as more genuine.**

**And TheGodfather93, I'm glad I piqued your curiosity with this fic, and I agree. Vegebul is sone of the most forced and unoriginal BS in the series, and really, it shouldn't have happened. I like it a little better now, but not by much considering it was just another way to shaft my boy Yamcha. And I'm sorry if the "overly-descriptive" parts aren't to your liking, but I kinda like telling the story as if, up to that point, we never saw them before, so I have to describe them, as if I'm writing them. Hopefully this won't perturb you too much.**

**Right, then... I've wasted enough time. Let's get going.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, or Dragon Ball GT. That is the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV, Shueisha, and Akira Toriyama.**

**Chapter 9:**** Seperate Focuses**

* * *

It was sunset when Yamcha came back home. Bulma, as predicted, was furious with Yamcha for leaving so prematurely at the Northern Wastelands. She yelled at Yamcha for a whole 10 minutes for leaving her to be carried by 'that Saiyan bastard.' Yamcha let her vent, then went back to his bedroom.

Puar was fast asleep, curled into a furry, pale blue ball on his bed, so he dared not wake her. Instead he stroked her mildly, and the cat purred, her tail twitching as she smiled in her sleep.

Yamcha grinned for the first time since he'd spoken to Goku about... _that__._ Then he sat down on the bedside, attempting to puzzle out how he should deal with this.

A boy from the future named Trunks has said he was the son of Vegeta and Bulma. Then when he told Goku that he knew, his oldest friend went ahead and told him that he (Yamcha) couldn't interfere between the two. If he did, Trunks would fade from existence.

And now here he was. He was still trying to wrap his head around how anyone could fall for Vegeta of all people.

It didn't help that, after he asked himself that, he had a very disturbing image of Bulma under the covers of her bed with the very same Saiyan Prince.

It was like watching a terrifying movie about a real life event to Yamcha, and it still racked his brain. He couldn't accept it. He didn't want to, and yet because of it, he had a very cold feeling in his chest at all times, like his insides had been in a freezer.

Contrary to what Bulma sometimes thought about him, Yamcha would never betray her. She was the first - and only - girlfriend he'd ever had. And he wanted her to be the only one. He was too scared of heartbreak.

From Day One, Yamcha had dreamed of having a family. A life where he had found the woman of his dreams and settled down with her. And for the longest time, that seemed to be Bulma Briefs. She even invited him to live at her place shortly after they ended up together. He got to move out of that hole in the desert, and live life like he never had. But he could care less about living conditions. He was happier with simply being near such a lovely lady.

But love, it seemed, wasn't all it cracked out to be. The threat of cheating always presented itself, but Bulma had weaponized that accusation against him.

And true, there was the threat of other women. But Yamcha would never succumb to another lady. He might freeze up and be unable to run away because he was just bad at talking to women he didn't know, but he'd never cheat.

Then of course, the threat of other men...

...like Vegeta.

Why would she betray him for that monster of a man? What had he ever done to deserve his girlfriend cheating on her for... for someone like him?

Well, as he'd told Maron earlier today... Bulma had a fetish for bad boys. And Yamcha used to be that bad boy. But maybe he'd changed too much and become too nice.

Or maybe, he wasn't as much a "bad boy" as Vegeta.

_'That sounds about right...'_ Yamcha thought to himself. _'Even after the longest time being with me, she still can't take her eyes off other guys. And they're always villains... like I used to be when I stole from people in the desert.'_

Though... she wouldn't _actually_ ditch him? Usually whenever there was a bad guy that Bulma drooled for, they'd either die or they'd just never run into them again.

But Vegeta was staying in the same house... and he would be here for 3 years until they took care of the Androids. Then Vegeta would try and kill Goku one last time, only to be inevitably killed himself. Yamcha knew that was the only way it would go down.

A lot could happen in three years, however. And that was what scared Yamcha the most.

But Yamcha believed that if he truly loved Bulma, then he would trust her not to go anywhere near Vegeta. Or at least not consent if he tried _anything_ with her.

That was why he'd ultimately made a decision.

He was going to leave Capsule Corp. At least for a while.

"I'll just leave it to fate, I guess..." Yamcha told himself aloud. "If Bulma still wants me, that'll be that. I can't do anything about what Goku said, but... maybe if these three years go by and... Bulma hasn't gone after Vegeta... maybe it'll all work out."

Nodding on this premise, he sat back up. And he walked into the closet of his room, pulling out a travel bag. He started to take things off his shelf and place them in...

_'Sorry, Bulma...' _Yamcha thought to himself as he trimmed his room of his valuables and such. _'I need to get ready for these Androids. And maybe after that's done... if you're still there for me... we'll see.'_

20 minutes later, all of his belongings - not much - had been packed into his bag. But he was just picking up Puar when the door opened, and there was Bulma.

Yamcha tensed at the sight of her in that tight, red dress with orange stripes... and that adorable afro... she was so beautiful, and yet... he couldn't.

"Yamcha, look," said Bulma, taking a breath. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier, you didn't deserve that. You had baseball practice, and I need to get over the fact that you can't be here all the time. So I wanted to make up... for..."

She trailed off as she noticed how void Yamcha's room was, and how he was standing there with Puar and a duffel bag over his shoulder. Her expression changed to confusion.

"What is...? Are you _leaving?_" Bulma asked, eyes wide with disbelief. "Why?!"

"Bulma," Yamcha spoke up at last, deciding to tell her the truth. "I need to start training for the Androids. No offense, but I can't do that here... so I'm going to Kame House. At least for now."

"What?!" Bulma was beside herself. "This isn't about earlier, is it?! Are you mad at me for some reason?" Her expression changed again, this time to irritation. "Or is it something else? This looks suspicious, Yamcha!"

"Bulma, I can't get ready for the Androids _and_ spend time with you," Yamcha replied, raising his voice a bit. "I'm sorry, but I need to get prepared. Like, now."

"Wait, you don't have to go now!" Bulma told him. "Look, I came here to make up for that day when Vegeta... ruined the mood a week ago..."

"Huh?"

"C'mon, Yamcha," Bulma soothed, advancing on Yamcha. She placed her slender hands on the duffel bag to make him lower it before continuing. "I'll at least... let you take charge before you go..."

Yamcha felt his body going rigid as Bulma moved her face towards his, looking for a kiss... but Yamcha grasped the hand on his duffel bag and lowered it.

"I'm sorry, Bulma..."

No more words after that. He ran, duffel bag and cat in hand, towards the window. He quickly lifted it open, bounding out the window and taking flight before Bulma could react!

"What the-?! No! Don't go! Yamcha, come back!"

Bulma ran to the open window, watching as Yamcha soared off into the sunset, across the outlying West City. The turquoise-haired woman stared with confusion and worry as her boyfriend disappeared. She was so shocked that she completely forgot to have any measure of rage directed towards the man who'd just left.

"Why are you leaving...?" she whispered as he vanished from her sight over the horizon.

* * *

**Kame House...**

The setting sun spread its color upon the ocean, casting a captivating orange glow across the wavy, deep blue as the day looked to come to an end. And within the orange line of light was the small island where the home of Master Roshi stood upon its small island in the middle of the ocean.

On the shore, Krillin was resting on a foldable, reclining chair reading a magazine he borrowed from Master Roshi. Since his breakup with Maron, he had returned to simply gazing at other women in fine print. He was very much resigned to it by this point, the seperation had taken a heavy toll on him.

The sound of _ki_ in the air made Krillin look up... which was a mistake because that necessitated him looking directly into the sun. Grunting in agitation, Krillin closed his eyes and shook his head, then shaded them with his hands so he could look again. He now recognized Yamcha, carrying a duffel bag on his shoulder, and a sleeping Puar in his free arm.

"Huh? Yamcha?" Krillin spoke up. He quickly sat up on the reclining chair to get a better look, confirming that it was him. "Yamcha, is that you?"

"Hey, Krillin," replied Yamcha, sighing heavily. "Master Roshi's here, right?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Krillin was more focused on why Yamcha was carrying all his stuff with him, like he had been ejected from his home or had moved out. "Yamcha, I'm a little lost! Why are you here with all your luggage, I mean, did you and Bulma-?"

But Yamcha wasn't necessarily focused on Krillin anymore... he was focused on the whereabouts of his old master. Surprisingly, as Krillin followed him up the shore to the door, he was greeted instantly by the old Turtle Hermit himself. Elderly, bone-thin, bald, a large white beard, and beach shades with red rims, much like the ones Yamcha had seen Goku with earlier.

"Well, Yamcha!" said Master Roshi. "I guess ya already know Goku's back? Just popped outta nowhere earlier today, and stole mah glasses! I thought I'd seen a ghost for a split sec!"

"Yeah, I saw him today," Yamcha replied without much emotion, not even taking the time to wonder how or why Roshi's shades were stolen; he hadn't been there to see it. "Master, can I come in?"

"Hm? Oh, sure..."

Master Roshi sidestepped to allow Yamcha into the front door. The bandit made a beeline for the couch, where he plopped down on it and took a deep sigh.

"Yamcha, what's going on?" asked Krillin, coming back inside and looking distressed. "Did something happen between you and Bulma? She kicked you out, I'll bet!"

Yamcha decided to lie.

"Well..." Yamcha began to start up slowly, before continuing. "...we _did_ fight, but I left on my own accord. Said I had to get ready for the Androids. So, yeah... we're kinda having a time out on our relationship..."

"Breaking up is hard to do, Yamcha," replied Master Roshi in a sage tone. "Maybe it's for the best that ya move on."

"Like you would know what that's like," murmured a snarky Krillin under his breath. Yamcha caught that and noticed the snide sarcasm in his voice that Roshi either failed to notice, or simply chose to ignore. It seemed Krillin was still dealing with the backlash of his own break-up with Maron, one that he initiated.

"Well, no, I never said I was _breaking up_ with Bulma," Yamcha told Roshi. "I've just decided that maybe I need to be a little more focused on these Androids. I mean, you don't mind me crashing here for a while, do you?"

"Not at all, I just tend to find it sudden," the old master replied. "If you're really stayin', you can have the guest room upstairs."

"Thanks, Master," Yamcha told him in thanks. "My guess is I'll be here for a while... at least until we beat these Androids..."

But again, as Yamcha got up off the couch to head upstairs (Krillin and Roshi still looked very much confused), he doubted even that. The whole situation between him and his girlfriend had left him so uneasy and insecure that he hadn't thought about how he was going to prepare.

_'I'll get there when I get there,'_ Yamcha reprimanded himself in his mind. _'I'll brainstorm later... I'm just too tired for that.'_

Yamcha reached the guest bedroom shortly after, putting down his bag and setting the still sleeping Puar on the edge of the bed. He really needed to lay down after today.

This bad news about Bulma cheating on her for Vegeta was going to haunt him for a while, that was for certain. And after having talked all about it to outside parties, he began to consider... was he truly going to move on so quickly? Yamcha had never found it much his style to just jump into a relationship... mostly because he never had. Bulma was his only relationship, and she was the one who started it... Yamcha only went along because she wanted that "perfect boyfriend."

Was he really Bulma's perfect boyfriend, though, if Vegeta was going to take her some time in the next three years?

But that was actually part of the reason why he was staying away from Capsule Corp right about now... if he really was Bulma's perfect boyfriend, she'd stay loyal, right?

In theory...

And what if it didn't work out? Did he just allow himself to have a one-night stand with Hasky? It sounded nice, but Yamcha didn't want a soulless relationship that was just sex. Those were the thoughts of a man who only thought about pleasure...

Then Maron came to mind.

He'd been speaking with her for the past week... what of her? She was suffering from bad boyfriends herself, much like he was possibly dealing with a bad girlfriend... she was _obviously_ looking for love, unlike the last time they'd seen her, in which she was mostly an air-headed bimbo. Apparently having bad flings with other men after losing her "best boyfriend" made her wiser...

What if Maron and him...?

No... he had more important things to worry about than his love life. If Bulma didn't fool around, they'd get back to where they were before. If not... whatever. Androids were now. Girls, later.

Puar was still snoozing soundly, which caught Yamcha's endearment. Stroking her soft blue fur one last time, Yamcha bid her goodnight under his breath, and pulled the covers over his head, eager to get some rest.

Whilst he drifted off to sleep, the desert bandit idly wondered... where was Maron, anyways?

* * *

**West City, a local diner...**

Maron, by the contrary, had just pulled up at her favorite place to eat in the city: a small restaurant not far from the store she worked as cashier for. It wasn't the fanciest eating place, but Maron was particularly fond of their sundaes. And tonight, she'd been called by two friends of hers.

She was met by the first one at the door: a girl with pale skin, bushy blue hair, big eyes of the same color, and a red ribbon in her hair. She wore rather revealing clothes, consisting of a green midriff tank-top, yellow short shorts, red gloves, and matching shoes with green socks.

"Oh, Maron..." the girl said in a soft, kindly tone.

"Hey, Launch!" chirped Maron. "How's the mailman job?"

"Well... good!" replied Launch, smiling almost bashfully. "I get around, get to meet lots of people... it's quite fun. And you?"

"Still stuck at the general store," Maron complained. "Nowhere close to fulfilling my lifelong dream as a supermodel..."

"Oh, don't worry, Maron," replied Launch softly. "You don't have to be famous to have friends..."

Maron cocked her eyebrow.

"What I mean is," Launch amended, "at least you have friends here!"

"I know, Launch," sighed Maron, deciding she wanted to switch the topic. "Hungry?"

"Yes, very!"

Maron and her friend walked inside, the blunette with lighter-colored hair having a skip in her step, and the darker-haired girl walking normally. Business was in full-swing tonight, with many seats having been taken. Maron noticed an empty table, which she led Launch to.

Just as they were sitting down, one of the waitresses took notice and, after having served the grub she currently had on her to a waiting customer, walked over to the countertop.

The woman in question was quite beautiful, with pale complexion, flowing, brownish-red hair and narrow - though large - onyx-colored eyes.

"Becca," the redhead told a black-haired girl at the register. "Tell the boss I'll be taking a break soon. My friends are here."

The girl named Becca nodded and walked away from the register, while the unidentified waitress removed her apron and hat, and walked over to the table.

"Ladies," she purred in an almost flirtatious tone that caused Launch to go red in an unnerved manner.

"Glad you could make it to the party, Raven!" Maron chirped. "Hopefully you weren't keeping us waiting?"

"Maron's n-not trying to be r-rude or anything," explained Launch defensively. "It's just..."

"I know," Raven scoffed dismissively as she seated herself next to Launch. "Good to see you two."

"I'm happy that we're finally getting a chance to hang out here again," Maron told them. "Launch with her new job, and me trying to cope with the first solid job I've had in a year."

"Because you keep depending on the rich guys you date to keep you supported..." Raven said under her breath.

"Hey!" Maron complained. "I haven't dated anyone for 6 whole months! I told you, I'm having a dry spell."

"Really?" Raven shook her head. "Maron, I figured you'd have met someone new. Better than Devin or Tommie or Mack. You need to cast your line out again. Not every man you catch is gonna bite you."

"The fish metaphor again?" Maron drawled.

"I could come up with a horse metaphor," Raven suggested. "But it'd just sound dirty."

"Please no," Launch implored quietly.

"What?" Raven asked, smiling.

"So!" Maron spoke up in a chipper tone. "What's been going on in your neck of the woods, Rae?"

"Nothing much," Raven admitted. "One of my co-workers got sacked a week ago, but that's hardly world-shattering. You hardly know the other girls. Then again, you're just here for the food... and me."

"Because you're our friend, Raven!" replied Maron sweetly.

"Really?" Raven grinned. "You make me feel so special..."

Unaware of how her friend seemed to be eyeing her up, Maron decided to let her account of the day out.

"Well as for me," Maron told her and Launch. "I _am_ starting to get a raise in pay by 10 dollars! I think the boss really likes me! He never gives anyone else that big a pay. And a week ago, I ran into an old friend..."

"Who?" Launch inquired.

"Oh, you wouldn't know him, I'm sure," Maron laughed, waving her hand dismissively. "I'm not dating him, but _God..._ he's such a hunk! Long messy hair, tan skin, handsome face, chiseled, scars... and he's a martial artist, if I remember correctly! He looks like something out of a kung-fu movie, you know?"

"Wow, that does sound hot!" Raven commented, leaning across the table, eyes sparkling with interest. "How long have you known him?"

"I met him almost a year ago," giggled Maron. "I was dating his friend, who wasn't nearly as attractive... but I liked _that_ guy because he was nice. This other guy I've been speaking to, he's nice too... but he's kinda shy when we talk. He's always blushing, see..."

"Hmm..." Launch seemed to be in thought. "Handsome... martial artist... scars... shy... that sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Heh, I met a guy kinda like what you're telling us," Raven told Maron. "Almost a decade ago. We were having a... debate, and he grabbed my boob by mistake. He didn't know I was a woman until he did that... then he got all red and shy. He was absolutely adorable. What was his name? I can't even remember."

"Well, I doubt it was someone we all knew," Maron laughed. "I mean, it's not like all these guys could've been called 'Yamcha', and be the same person..."

"Maron?!" Launch gaped!

"Hold up, that's right! The man I met was named Yamcha!" Raven started up, standing on the table! "Maron, you knew this guy and you didn't tell us?"

A silence followed, where Maron stared blankly at her redhead friend like a child trying to learn basic words.

"Oh, come on," said Maron. "I really doubt it could've been the same person! I mean, I bet there are plenty of guys named Yamcha out there."

"Maron?"

"Yeah, Launch?"

"I... knew a guy named Yamcha, too."

There was a very long silence at the table, where Maron, Launch and Raven were very quiet and very dumbfounded.

"You can't know him!" Maron objected loudly, standing up suddenly. "If you knew him, you'd have to know his girlfriend is-!"

"Bulma Briefs," Launch replied.

"Wait,_ that_ was Bulma?!" Raven shouted. "I remember a girl with turquoise hair with the guy I met! But _that_ was Bulma Briefs, the boss girl at Capsule Corp?!"

"HOW DO WE ALL KNOW YAMCHA?!" shrieked Maron in a fit of surprise!

"Hey, quiet down! We're trying to eat here!"

Maron went deep red and looked in the seat behind her, swapping gazes with a large, burly man with blonde hair, a thick mustache, and brown eyes sternly staring back at her. He was with a small, slender woman with flowing, platinum hair and cerulean blue eyes. And next to her, a 6-year-old girl with short hair matching her father's, and the eyes of her mother's.

"S... Sorry..." Maron peeped, sitting back down and looking mortified.

"Who was that, Daddy?" Maron heard the little girl behind her say.

"No one we know, Erasa," the woman told the child. "They won't be loud anymore, OK?"

There was a silence at the table that the three beautiful women sat at, all of them looking quite thrown off.

The silence was broken when Maron cleared her throat and pointed at Launch.

"Launch. Answers. Now."

"You mean, how I know Yamcha?" the navy blue-haired girl squeaked. "I-I... well, I... you see..."

"She's not gonna bite your head off, sweetheart," Raven told her. "We just wanna know some stuff. I kinda wanna know myself, given how I didn't know you knew this man, either."

"Oh... well... ahem." Launch shook her head. "Me and Yamcha... well, we go way back. But... I was more associated with his friend, Goku. It's been... how long since we saw each other? 10... no, 11 years! Since the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. It's been so long."

"I can't believe this!" scoffed Maron. "You knew Yamcha, and you didn't say anything?"

"It never came up until now!" Launch replied in defense.

"Hey, now," said Raven calmly. "I think we can say we're all surprised now that we all know the truth. Weird enough how we all happen to know a really handsome guy, but maybe more so that it never came up until now."

"This is eerie..." Launch whispered. "So... Yamcha is... is still with Bulma, hopefully?"

Maron gulped down the wad of saliva in her throat before reconsisting herself.

"Y-Yeah..." Maron replied. She was still processing the fact that her two friends knew this guy she was friends with. "But he's... having trouble..."

"Trouble?" Raven purred. "As in trouble in paradise? Maybe you should reintroduce us to him, and I could help him out?"

"I doubt he'll learn anything from someone so straightforward as you," said Maron sassily.

"I bet I could teach him more than you think," Raven replied back. "Maybe I could teach _you_ if you'd let me."

"Raven, I love you, but not that way," said Maron dismissively.

"Hey, don't get the wrong idea... yet," Raven trilled.

"So..." Launch piped up, curious. "How well do you know Yamcha?"

"I mean," Maron went red as she spoke, "I mean, when we first met, I teased him a little about how cute he was. I even said we should go out some time. But... I wasn't really serious. I was dating his friend at the time. Launch, I'm guessing you know Krillin?"

"Oh, yes!" chirped Launch. Then the big eyes of the bushy-haired blunette went wide. "You...? You _dated_ Krillin?"

"Yeah, for about a month or so," answered Maron. "Best month of my life... but then he just broke it off..."

"Maron, why didn't you tell me about it?" Launch inquired.

"I didn't know you knew him, too!" Maron defended. "I didn't know _either_ of you actually met anyone who knew Yamcha!" she added, pointing at Raven. "I mean, you knew him!"

"Hey, I only met the man like... once," Raven told her. "And back then, I only heard his name said like once or twice. I didn't think that I'd be hearing about him again until I heard he'd become a baseball player for the West City Titans. And now I hear my friends knew him personally? Shock to hear your two besties are friends with a celebrity..."

"I don't think I know Yamcha as much as _Launch..._" Maron told them. "In fact, I bet she's known Krillin longer than me... maybe even been with him..."

"No, nothing like that." Launch waved her hand. "But you're right, I have know Krillin a long time... I met him and Goku the same day, you see." She then looked back and forth in a suspicious manner before lowering the volume of her voice dramatically. _"__This was when... when 'Bad Me' was on one of her outings."_

That caught their notice. Maron and Raven had known Launch a few years now, long enough to know what happened whenever she sneezed.

"Anyways," Launch continued, "they brought me to live with their old master, Roshi. Kind man, but he really likes women. As in a lot."

"That old man?! Launch, don't tell me he grabbed your rack!"

"Why, he grabbed _your_ rack?!"

"Wow," commented Raven on the side.

"Not on _purpose!_" Maron explained, though now flustered. "He was reaching his hand out, and..."

"Changing subject!" Launch squeaked. "OK, maybe this is out of nowhere, but... Maron, you and Yamcha... how exactly... ahem... _close_ are you two? As in now?"

"If you're asking if we're dating, no!" Maron replied with a laugh. "Like I said, I'm taking a break from all that!"

But then the possibility of her strolling down the street with a confident, strong Yamcha carrying all her many accessories from the mall came to mind. And then she started daydreaming of her walking down the beach with the man, imagining his chiseled features and sturdy frame...

"Maron?" Raven snapped her fingers. "Hey, Blu. Sweetie. Wake up. We get that it's fun dreaming about Yamcha, but there are two girls talking to ya."

_"I wasn't imagining me strolling down the beach with Yamcha and thinking about his muscles!"_

The rather pronounced emphasization of Maron's denial, combined with her nervous attitude, gave her absolutely no help in masking her secret.

"Hey, I don't blame ya," said Raven. "Cute guy like that, dames should be breaking his door down. I'd be one of them, but you seem pretty lovesick."

"I am _not_ lovesick!" Maron shouted, but not so loud that they'd end up ticking off the family in the seat nearby. "That would imply that I daydream about him and imagine him naked and wonder what it'd be like to lose my virginity to him and how nice it'd feel to be next to him after a heartfelt confession and oh my God, I'm lovesick."

"Mm-hmm," Raven purred. "Got you."

Launch, having had the thought of a naked Yamcha put in her mind, had gone so red she looked as though her head would soon turn into an apple!

"No, he's with that mean lady Bulma, I can't do anything about that!" Maron shot back. "Even if I am younger, hotter, and cuter than she is, he's in a relationship, and I can't do anything about that!"

"What if they broke up?" Raven asked. "What would you do then?"

Maron paused, and the gears in her head started to crank as she began to ponder such a situation...

"Won't they just make up and get back together?" Maron asked, failing to see Raven's point. "Yamcha said he'd been going out with her since... since they were teens!"

"Maron," Launch piped up meekly, "I think what Raven means is that you could date Yamcha if he's broken up with Bulma..."

"But..."

But the moment that possibility dipped into Maron's thoughts, she was once again in La-La Land with Yamcha, imagining how... well-built...

"Well, you don't need much motivation, do you?" Raven observed. "My, my, your thoughts magnetize to a hot guy like him so quick... you have great taste."

"I wasn't thinking about Yamcha!" yapped Maron in defense. "I was thinking about-!"

"Climbing on top of him and riding him like a horse?"

"No! Raven, take your mind out of the gutter!"

"Just kidding, darling!" Raven teased. "But in all honesty, if you're really thinking that much about him..."

"...which I wasn't..." Maron interjected.

"You _were..._" Raven shot back with slight tone. "...then maybe you should think about how long he'll be available when he breaks up with his current girl."

"Why?"

"I think Raven's saying that if they break up again," Launch spoke up, "you'll have a chance to..."

"Drag that handsome sucker into bed and milk him for every ounce of-"

"NO!" Launch squeaked, shoving a laughing Raven. "Ignore her, Maron... the whole point of what Raven's telling you is that if Yamcha happens to break up with Bulma, that could be your opportunity to find love in him." Launch flashed her an encouraging smile. "You do like him, right? I should know, he's a really nice man."

"I... well, this would be saying..."

"I suggest getting straight to the point," Raven interrupted. "Grab him. And take him."

"I'm not some amazon, Rae," said Maron uneasily. "I at least try to get to know the guy before we start dating..."

"Maron, you just aren't doing it right, then," the redhead told her, cutting her off. "I think it's high-time an adorable girl like you finally became a woman. You need to get that man for yourself. Not today. Not tomorrow. Now."

"I..."

"But if you don't like that idea," Raven added casually, "I can just set up a fight between you and Bulma."

"Raven, I can't fight!" Maron complained. "You _know_ I don't fight! I'll get my illustrious blue hair tangled, and I'll get ugly splotchy bruises! And that's not attractive at all!"

"Then I guess you're outta luck, huh?" Raven sighed. "Apparently there's no point in-"

"_No!_" Maron cried out abruptly.

Launch and Raven jumped a bit, eyes blinking and wide. Maron went red at her outburst... then she peeked over behind her seat, apologized to the family sitting behind them once again, then sat back down.

"I mean..." Maron's index fingers pressed against each other. "I mean, I _do_ kinda sorta wanna... get to know Yamcha better, but not in that way. But... there is something that's kinda sorta maybe... keeping... me..."

"Did no one like you or something?" Launch asked.

"Well, it's not that, it's just..." Maron's eyes darted back and forth. "I'm scared of that Bulma... and this other girl they hung out with... Chi-Chi?"

"Oh, you met Chi-Chi, too?" said Launch. "Well, Chi-Chi... _can_ be a little much... you knew her, too?"

"I think I made them both mad whenever I was around..." Maron explained. "I think they were jealous of me, but I don't really remember. But they're scary, and I think they could beat me up!"

"Can't you just learn self-defense or something, beautiful?" Raven asked. "I doubt a spoiled brat running a megacorp has anything for you other than a slap to the face. One good class, you could flatten her, I'm sure."

"Raven!" Launch blurted out. "We're not gonna get Maron to hit someone! Besides, even if she did, Chi-Chi... you never met her, but she's really strong! She'd lay Maron out with one hit! Maybe she needs a friend to go with her instead!"

"You'd do that?"

"Of course! I think it'd be nice to see everyone again, after all!"

Maron's confidence re-constituted at last, and she sighed in relief. She would then abruptly lean over the table to give Launch a big hug!

"Thank-you-Launch-I-was-so-scared-but-you're-coming-now-so-thank-you!"

"Ooh!" Launch exclaimed. "Oh, OK, hugs..." She promptly returned the embrace before letting go quickly, then turned to Raven. "Hey, maybe you should come with, Raven. I don't think you've met Yamcha's crew. They're all a really nice bunch."

"Do you even have a time as to _when_ you're going to see them, though?" asked Raven. "Or at what event? Because you sound like everything's set when it really isn't."

Maron and Launch traded glances, then turned back to Raven.

And then Raven turned a mischievous grin of her own towards Maron. Launch confusedly looked at Raven's face before acknowledging Maron's puzzlement.

"What?" Maron asked.

"Sweetheart..." Raven purred. "I think you need to set up a date with your man."

"Yamcha's not my man!" whined Maron.

"Not yet," Raven interrupted again, leaning over the table to put her fingers up to Maron's lips. "What do you say, should we doll you up for some rendezvous for a fancy restaurant? Or...?"

"Raven, you think too forward!" squeaked Launch. "Maron, what you do with Yamcha is up to you. But maybe you could talk to him about us?"

"Uh, um... OK," Maron stuttered. "Gimme a minute, I need to think about how I'm gonna talk to him..."

"He's just another person," purred Raven. "Just talk to him like anyone else would."

"But..."

_'...he **is** special...'_

Feeling a massive pang of embarrassment in her bowels, Maron shifted around in her seat, trying to find the words to explain why he couldn't. But she ultimately failed because Raven asked, "But what?" Maron knew at that time that she had no way out.

"OK..." Maron conceded. "I'll... I'll talk to him and see-"

"Thank you, Maron!"

Launch immediately hugged her afterwards, leaving Maron looking to the side and feeling very embarrassed. And it wasn't because of the hug. It was because of what she was now about to be pressed into doing. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have been as flustered. But now?

_'I chose now of all times to suddenly start crushing on another hunky dude?'_ Maron groaned inwardly. _'How am I gonna talk to Yamcha without dissolving into blushes now?!'_

Maron cursed Yamcha in her mind for being so cute. And for good measure, cursed Launch and Raven for bringing her crush to light.

_'Let's just hope I don't melt next time I see him...'_

* * *

**OK, I'm _so_ sorry if this took longer to crank out than I wanted, but obviously I had to modify history a little bit in order to add Raven (or as some know her, Pasta) from _Curse of the Blood Rubies_ into the canon, since the events of that movie would completely nix Pilaf, Shu and Mai from existence.**

**Yes, she's a former treasure hunter, and yes, she's met Yamcha. But the grounds on which they met were completely different. Rather, Raven met Yamcha during the 5-year gap between Goku's marriage to Chi-Chi and Raditz's arrival on Earth. And indeed, the Blood Rubies were involved. I've decided that I'll write a one-shot in the future regarding Yamcha's encounter with Raven about the Blood Rubies.**** In fact, I might write a whole prequel fanfiction regarding the debacle regarding the Saiyans and Frieza as the prologue of this particular story, but again, that will be much later.**

**Anyways, I'm _so_ glad to be done, and to be over the writer's block. I promise I'll get the next chapter out much sooner.**** Might've been crap at writing the women, but... I wanted Maron to maintain her usual ditzy air while not being a complete and utter moron, while Launch was something of the mostly meek and quiet individual as Good Launch, and Raven is the sort of out-going "big sis" type gal, since we never really got more from Raven's persona in the movie other than that she was ****a treasure hunter.**

**I'll be getting back to updating soon,**** hopefully. I really shouldn't have let this something of a hiatus go like this, so that's my bad.**** But I'll make up for it, I promise.**

**Thanks to Childhood Enigma for helping me write this!**

**Until then, I will be seeing you next time.**

**Sky-Kaiser signing out.**


End file.
